Target Zoom Glitch Added to Series of Mishaps Over Job Cuts

(Bloomberg) — Target Corp.’s corporate employees joined the company’s Zoom meeting Tuesday morning to find out if they were among the 1,000 people the retailer announced last week would lose their jobs.

They were met with silence after a technical glitch briefly muted the call, according to people familiar with the matter and a memo seen by Bloomberg News. Resolving the issue caused employees to stare at the bright red Target logo in the background of the call for several minutes, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.

After the meeting concluded, employees on Zoom received an email from Target’s head of human resources that included a summary of the call, confirmed that their positions had indeed been eliminated and apologized for the technical issue, according to the people and a copy of the message seen by Bloomberg.

A Target spokeswoman declined to comment.

The hiccup caps a series of communications mishaps that have plagued employees as the troubled retailer undertakes its first major restructuring in nearly a decade. Target announced Thursday that it would cut 1,000 positions and leave an additional 800 open positions unfilled as part of its plan to eliminate complexity, with the cuts to occur the following week.

Details of the downsizing, and the fact that affected employees would be paid by early January, were not included in the Oct. 23 memo in which incoming Chief Executive Michael Fiddelke announced the cuts internally. Sources said many Target employees learned these details from media reports.

Last week, some employees received a message claiming to be a potential job interview that was actually a phishing app sent by Target’s security department. Target’s security manager apologized for the additional stress the exercise may have caused because of the layoffs, according to several people and an internal message seen by Bloomberg.

Target is undertaking its first major restructuring in a decade; because this well-established retailer is trying to get back on its feet. Some employees have faced turmoil in recent years over Target’s lack of clarity on corporate issues, including its stance on diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

The company is one of several large companies that are laying off workers to cut costs, reduce bureaucracy or shift resources to faster-growing parts of their businesses. Amazon.com Inc. United Parcel Service Inc. plans to cut 14,000 corporate jobs. It plans to cut 34,000 jobs this year.

Minneapolis-based Target is looking to reverse a long streak of stagnant sales. Stock has hit a record during the pandemic as shoppers rush to upgrade their homes and buy more items from the retailer. This came to a halt as inflation kicked in and people pulled back from spending. The company faced other challenges, including calls for a boycott, after it rolled back its diversity policies.

The layoffs affect various teams across Target, including merchandising, product management, accounting and cybersecurity, among others, according to government filings. The company had previously stated that affected employees would also receive severance pay.

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