(Bloomberg) — Target Corp. corporate employees logged onto a company Zoom meeting Tuesday morning to learn if they were among the 1,000 people that the retailer last week announced would lose their jobs.
They instead encountered silence after a technical glitch briefly knocked out the call’s audio, according to people familiar with the matter and a memo seen by Bloomberg News. That left employees staring for a few minutes at the bright red Target bullseye logo on the call’s background while the issue was being resolved, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.
After the meeting wrapped, employees on the Zoom received an email from Target’s head of human resources with a summary of the call, confirming that their position had indeed been eliminated and apologizing for the technical problem, according to the people and a copy of the message seen by Bloomberg.
A Target spokesperson declined to comment.
The hiccup capped a series of communications mishaps that irked employees as the troubled retailer rolled out its first major restructuring in nearly a decade. Target on Thursday announced it would cut 1,000 positions and not fill 800 additional open roles as part of plan to remove complexity, and that the cuts would take place the following week.
The breakdown of the downsizing and the fact that affected employees would be paid through early January were not included in the Oct. 23 memo by incoming Chief Executive Officer Michael Fiddelke announcing the cuts internally. Many Target workers learned about those details through media reports, the people said.
Last week, some employees received a message purporting to be a potential job interview that was in fact a phishing exercise sent by Target’s security department. A Target security manager in turn apologized for the additional stress the exercise may have caused in light of the job cuts, according to some of the people and an internal message seen by Bloomberg.
Target is conducting its first major reorganization in a decade as the storied retailer seeks to regain its footing. Some employees have faced disarray in recent years stemming from a lack of clarity around corporate matters including Target’s stance on diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
The company is one of several major corporations that are shedding workers to trim costs, reduce bureaucracy or shift resources faster-growing parts of their businesses. Amazon.com Inc. plans to slash 14,000 corporate jobs, while United Parcel Service Inc. has cut 34,000 roles this year.
Minneapolis-based Target is seeking to reverse its extended streak of sluggish sales. The stock hit a record during the pandemic when shoppers rushed to update their homes and bought more products at the retailer. That came to a halt as inflation kicked in and people pulled back on spending. The company has also had other challenges including boycott calls after pulling back its diversity policies.
The job cuts affect various teams across Target, including merchandising, product management, accounting and cybersecurity, among others, according to government filings. Affected workers will also receive severance pay, the company previously said.
