What's the company culture at Target?

Every business has it's own style. What is the office environment and culture like at Target?

Are people dressed in business casual, jeans and t-shirts, or full-on suits? Do folks get together for Friday happy hours and friendly get-togethers?

What is a typical day in the life of an employee at Target?

Target grades you "red yellow or green" on everything from the initial psych exam to job performance.

This is not a company to work for if you're a decision maker and/or risk taker. Everything is planned. And, as above, your ability to follow the plan is graded red, yellow or green.

Growth opportunities?

Yes. But the corporate culture is so hyped it remains difficult to take it seriously-particularly if hourly turnover hangs in around 80%...my experience.

Final opinion: Spare yourself the hype...find a company that has more substantial reasons to be impressed with itself

Target has one of the best screening processes I have ever participated in. There interview process helps to find the people that match their culture and vision. I have seen alot of people who work at Target who look like society in all shapes sizes and colors.

Turn over - agree it is high, but other companies benefit from this turn over. Target hires the best of the best and the people who leave are usually the ones who are ready for positions of greater repsonsiblity, but Target does not have a place for them, or they are not allowed to make decisons or take risks outside of the governing hand closely watched by HQ.

HQ has all the answers and does NOT relate to or listen to the top level people they hired at their Distribution Centers. Subsequently, the good leaders that were hired, become managers carrying out the HQ vision and either settle into chasing numbers and an acceptable opinion survey, or leave so they can lead and make a difference with another company.

The Company culture is supposed to fit the slogan of "Fast, Fun and Friendly". The employees refer to it as "Fast, Fun and FUBAR" if that gives you a picture.
The main words employees that I know that still work there are, "mean", "abusive", "toxic", "inhumane", "ridged".
The Company says one thing, does another. You are encouraged to take risks and be candid. However, what this really does is flush out the nonconformists so they can be "coached" into being an ineffectual clone.
Definately, the Marketing areas are looking for a certain type of person that looks and behaves in a certain way. Again, that doesn't include compentence.
A sure way to being hired is having an MBA and being incompentent. However, they want to hire you in at a pretty low wage.

The style is MANAGEMENT BY BODY COUNT.

I am interviewing in a week for a Sr Group Manager role in a distribution center and i was hoping to find out range in salaries, bonuses, benefits, as well as interview requirements. i.e. How many people should I expect to meet with, how much time will it take, and how should I dress? Anyone have any insight or suggestions?

I am a current team leader I am a GSTL
I have worked with here for the pat 5 years.
The culture is supposed to be Fast Fun and Friendly.
I have found that you are expected to run 90 miles an hour the entire shift. You are given allot of work and no time to do it. I think that this overall is a good company to work for.
But the employees are not given the chance to make any changes, You are expectd to follow what ever HQ wants first and ask questions later. (conform then challange)
Although even when you confrm first you are often not given a chance to challange.
Target often does make changes and does not inform those that need to know untell you have a visit from the distrect team lead. I have found my self looking like a deer caught in the headlights many times.
My oppinion is if you are new to the management fieal and need allot of direction then Target is a good place to start. But for those that would like to be given a little more freedom to take risks then they should not work for Target

Been there done that in Saint Paul, Minnesota said: The Company culture is supposed to fit the slogan of "Fast, Fun and Friendly". The employees refer to it as "Fast, Fun and FUBAR" if that gives you a picture.
The main words employees that I know that still work there are, "mean", "abusive", "toxic", "inhumane", "ridged".
The Company says one thing, does another. You are encouraged to take risks and be candid. However, what this really does is flush out the nonconformists so they can be "coached" into being an ineffectual clone.
Definately, the Marketing areas are looking for a certain type of person that looks and behaves in a certain way. Again, that doesn't include compentence.
A sure way to being hired is having an MBA and being incompentent. However, they want to hire you in at a pretty low wage.

You are correct on the wage part. I am a team leader a friend of mine found a job as a team member making 2 dollars less then me, and less responcibility

are there any blogs on Target?

Target is a great company to work for , Honestly there are some hard days and there are some easy days. People might start drama but that happens at every job. Honeslty I think the person makes the job the job does not make the person. People complain all the time about working at target but people compalin about every job all the time. I hate people that complain about working at Target it's a job you have to make it the best. It's your job to ither stick with this job or move on to another job. To me target is more then a job because I want to be there for the rest of my life I hope to see my self as a Store Manager or DTL one day. I love working at target and the people that dont love working there just need to find a new job to complain about.

i work at target. i have been there for almost 9 months. i actually really like working there. they let me be myself. i can show my tattoos and i can wear my peircings. when i started there i made $7.25 and was a cashier now i can do everything at that store and i'm making close to $9. my bosses aren't the best but for the most part they are fine.

Host said: Every business has it's own style. What is the office environment and culture like at Target?

Are people dressed in business casual, jeans and t-shirts, or full-on suits? Do folks get together for Friday happy hours and friendly get-togethers?

What is a typical day in the life of an employee at Target?

This is my personal opinion. If you are in between jobs do not work at Tgt.If you are starving do not work at Tgt.
I have worked there for 14 months after being laid off from a real job.
I have had my self esteem ruined, am constantly bullied and had my hours cut because I do not want to close/open in two diffferent areas.
Please do not take this lightly. I hooked myself to the job and now regret it. They pick out two or three people on the "team"
to show what can happen. I have friends that I have made there tell me, "I dont know how you take it". I know that it is a choice to work there and that is made quite clear. However when you are unable to leave because of laws that dont allow voluntary unemployent-I am screwed. I feel that this job has actually made me less employable, because people tell me that I now project a "beat down" image. If you dont feel like this and you work there, I applaud you, But for others that are suffering I actually feel your pain.
Just my opinion.
Good luck

My spouse works there as a buyer. I think the answer to this question depends on who you are and where you’re coming from. Target is very reflective of Minnesota culture in general: young, trend conscious, lots of social events (happy hours, etc) and surface friendly. They pay well and have good benefits. If you’re from here, you’ll probably love it.

If not, the ‘Minnesota Nice’ brand of passive aggression can take some getting used to. He has been in several departments (most of the buyers move around a lot); some depts that he loved and some that were very cliquey and political. Direct communication is somewhat frowned on and the ‘externals’ (Target speak for hired from outside MN/another company) have a fairly high turnover rate (They come – they freeze – they leave). He’s in his early 30s and feels really old, the median age seems to be around 28 and we suspect that the over 40s are shipped off somewhere. I suspect that we will be seeking greener (and warmer) pastures before long….

I was an ETL-AP in Southern CA. I hated it...you have to always wear red & khaki no matter what level you are. All the management is two-faced, overly sensitive, pre-dominately women. You have to use stupid target jargon all the time. customer=guest, employee=team member, efficient=brand, meetings=huddles. You can't say the truth @ target. IF the store is F*ucked up for some reason or another and you need your employee to work harder you can't say why the store is F'd up. My managing style is to be up front with my employees but you can't be like this @ Target. It was the complete opposite style of managing from what I was use to. I would work 10 hrs+ you never get a lunch or break. You have to try and sneak in a snack while working. $21 & change an hour wasn't worth it so left that concentration camp.

I was a Backroom Team Member for about 3 months over the summer. Thats about all I could take working for this company. First off, the store management was the biggest group of back-stabbers I have ever come across. They would say one thing, and then do another. They never listened and were incredibly sensitive to suggestions. If you even hinted at possibly doing anything different then the exact textbook way, you go black-listed. They would go out of their way to make your life miserable, and would constantly stick you with the worst jobs. The turnover rate was outrageously high because of this. In the 3 months I worked here, 4 people left. I talked to my Team Lead and he told me that turnover rate is about normal. Thats of a backroom staff of about 16. So 25% of your employees leave every 3-4 months?

We were also constantly under-staffed in the back-room. We never had enough man-power to get done what management wanted, but yet it was somehow always our fault. Management always spun it as the lazy back-room workers not getting enough done, despite the fact we had only 3 guys doing a job that should be done by 5-6.

Back room guy,
My father who is deaf is currently working as logistic (night shift) at target. He often complains to me how poorly target is treating him.I like to speak up for him and demanded a meeting between me and H.R. I would like to know if it's true about if there is a monthly chat session at target.(i read it in indeed) My father has never gotten a performance review, how often do you get one since you work there? His story is exactly like yours, it's disheartening and sad. I like to help my dad to improve his working environment but I need all the information I can get.

Candi Johnson,

I don't know about hourly employees but the supervisors/teamleads are reviewed every month. if they suck at ther job they, as target puts it are "performanced out" which means they have 6 months to meet target numbers and then they are fired if they don't. the supervisors/teamleads should be reviewing the hourlys once a month also. Here are more tips for everyone out there. if you are interviewed at target and they say they will call you, you did not get the job target does on the spot hiring. If they hire you as "seasonal" do not take it...its there way of hiring someone and being able to fire them at any time for any reason. This was all info given to me by the fat HR lady in La Verne CA.

Hourly people are given a performance review once a year. It might be different in other stores but in the one I worked at it was given around March/April sometimes they didn't get around to it until May or June. Candi I strongly recommend your father finds another job. Target is just as bad as walmart. Honestly a meeting with HR will just make it worse. They treat their employees so bad. I worked there for two years doing plano and out of nowhere they cut me from 40 hrs to 5. It wasn't just like a one time thing. It started around January. I figured it's after Christmas and kinda slow so I waited but when May came around and I still was only getting 5 hours a week. I had to quit. A year after I worked there my husband took a job there. He started around August and was NEVER told it was seasonal and never signed anything saying he was seasonal. After Christmas he was let go because they had him in the computer as seasonal. He found a much better job with shoprite.

hourly people are given a performance review once a year. It might be different in other stores but in the one I worked at it was given around March/April sometimes they didn't get around to it until May or June. Candi I strongly recommend your father finds another job. Target is just as bad as walmart. Honestly a meeting with hr will just make it worse. They treat their employees so bad. I worked there for two years doing plano and out of nowhere they cut me from 40 hrs to 5. It wasn't just like a one time thing. It started around January. I figured it's after Christmas and kinda slow so I waited but when May came around and I still was only getting 5 hours a week. I had to quit. A year after I worked there my husband took a job there. He started around August and was NEVER told it was seasonal and never signed anything saying he was seasonal. After Christmas he was let go because they had him in the computer as seasonal. He found a much better job with shoprite.

AnitaJOB said: This is my personal opinion. If you are in between jobs do not work at Tgt.If you are starving do not work at Tgt.
I have worked there for 14 months after being laid off from a real job.
I have had my self esteem ruined, am constantly bullied and had my hours cut because I do not want to close/open in two diffferent areas.
Please do not take this lightly. I hooked myself to the job and now regret it. They pick out two or three people on the "team"
to show what can happen. I have friends that I have made there tell me, "I dont know how you take it". I know that it is a choice to work there and that is made quite clear. However when you are unable to leave because of laws that dont allow voluntary unemployent-I am screwed. I feel that this job has actually made me less employable, because people tell me that I now project a "beat down" image. If you dont feel like this and you work there, I applaud you, But for others that are suffering I actually feel your pain.
Just my opinion.
Good luck

This is a perfect example of how many do feel. Target will beat you down if you have any real passion for the job. Don't get brainwashed into Target because you'll never last at another company. The "Beat down" analogy is exactly how I feel. shame on Target!

Candi Johnson in Chicago, Illinois said: Back room guy,
My father who is deaf is currently working as logistic (night shift) at target. He often complains to me how poorly target is treating him.I like to speak up for him and demanded a meeting between me and H.R. I would like to know if it's true about if there is a monthly chat session at target.(i read it in indeed) My father has never gotten a performance review, how often do you get one since you work there? His story is exactly like yours, it's disheartening and sad. I like to help my dad to improve his working environment but I need all the information I can get.

Hello Ms. Johnson: I am a target team member who has worked for target on and off for about a year and a half now, and I have a disability. If I can be of any assistance to you, please email me.
luisrelias@gmail.com
I know this posting is rather late… But I hope that I can offer you or anyone advice.