Downtown Minneapolis abuzz with Target and other workers called back to the office

Hybrid worker leniency is out; return-to-office mandates are in.

Hundreds of office workers return to a more rigid in-office schedule this week, likely finding a much-altered downtown Minneapolis after more than five years away.

Restaurant operators, city officials and economic boosters are rejoicing as major downtown employers like Ameriprise and Target began their tighter in-office policies this month.

Today marks the start of Target’s mandate that employees in its largest business unit return to headquarters three days a week. The mega retailer is downtown’s second-largest employer behind Hennepin Healthcare and serves as an emotional anchor, as much as a numerical one, for Minneapolis’ central business district.

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2:45 p.m. - Downtown St. Paul’s big return-to-work moment came in June, when Gov. Tim Walz started requiring state employees to come back to the office half-time.

Though downtown vitality was a factor the governor cited in his decision, many observers said the return of state workers was not a silver bullet. Minnesota Star Tribune columnist Eric Roper, who documented state workers’ first day back, argued the Capitol complex feels isolated from downtown St. Paul, particularly amid this year’s spate of construction projects.

— Katie Galioto

2:25 p.m. - The Minneapolis Downtown Council reports that, before the pandemic, the average number of workers downtown on any given day was 219,000. Today, downtown is at about 70-75% of that volume.Hotel occupancy is 55% and the central business district’s vacancy rate is 30%.

Find more downtown stats here.

— Carson Hartzog

2:05 p.m. - After the work-from-home days of the pandemic and the Great Resignation that followed, power that had shifted to workers has swung back to employers as the labor market cools.

Return-to-office mandates, while “not as dramatic as hiring or laying somebody off,” signal the change in power, said Aaron Sojourner, senior researcher at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

A worker called back to the office three years ago might have felt confident about quitting and finding another job, Sojourner said, but “right now, people definitely shouldn’t be that confident they can get another offer.’'

“They could try,” he added, “but I wouldn’t quit first. I would get the offer first.”

— Emma Nelson

1:56 pm. - 3M employees were back on campus in Maplewood last week as the manufacturer officially ended its lenient “Work Your Way” policy after five years of letting many workers remain fully remote.

“The value of working in the office is that it allows leaders to demonstrate our performance culture and to reinforce priorities and focus areas in real-time, with speed and urgency, throughout the organization,” Brown told senior leaders in an email announcing the change.

— Brooks Johnson

1:39 p.m. - In an afternoon lull, Genevieve Wanner and Lucie Greasley, baristas at the downtown Target’s Starbucks, had a few minutes to themselves. Greasley said the location has been much busier than usual this week and last. Throughout the day, a line of downtown workers in business casual and red T-shirts snaked into the skyway.

“When I worked Thursday, it was really really busy,” Greasley said. “It was continuous, constant for two hours.”

“Especially because [Target Corp. employees] get their discount here,” Wanner added.

1:25 p.m. - Workers flood Nicollet Mall at lunchtime during Target Together in downtown Minneapolis.

— Emmy Martin

1:20 p.m. - A growing number of mothers are leaving the U.S. workforce, in part because COVID-era flexibility is ending. It’s a big shift from the past few years, when women’s labor force participation hit an all-time high and drove the pandemic recovery.

After reaching more than 71% in 2023, the participation rate of mothers with children under age 5 fell to about 68% in July, according to U.S. Census data analysis by researchers at the University of Kansas. The decline between January and July was the biggest mid-year drop in more than 40 years.

While workers have been back to some version of in-person work for a while — and many never left — return-to-office mandates have picked up speed this year. After President Donald Trump returned to the White House and called federal workers back to the office five days a week, many private employers followed suit.

Read the full story on Friday.

— Emma Nelson

1:10 p.m. - Just a handful of Target employees clad in red made their way over to the east side of downtown, a 10-12 minute walk from Target headquarters. The lines at typical lunch hot spots like Green + Grain and Chipotle were no longer than usual.

Most workers waiting in lines for lunch declined to speak with the Star Tribune on the record about being back in the office.

— Zoë Jackson

Saunders, who was hired in 2022 on a local contract but mostly worked from home, moved to Pittsburgh in 2024 to care for her mother. Repeated requests for a remote contract over the course of a year were denied, according to emails reviewed by the Minnesota Star Tribune. She was later fired for not reporting to the office. More than half her team work remotely, Saunders said.

Another former engineer, Shraddha Swarnakari, said she was told to report to Target’s Brooklyn Park office after her remote status was deemed invalid. Swarnakari asked to work downtown to shorten her commute while caring for a child. She noted that half her team also works remotely, calling the mandate inconsistent.

Target could not immediately be reached for comment.

— Carson Hartzog

12:40 p.m. - Aside from a couple of workers taking calls on their laptops, SPS Tower on the east side of downtown was fairly empty around lunchtime Tuesday. A barista at the Frgmnt coffeeshop in the building said the morning had been pretty busy.

12:30 p.m. - Many Nicollet Mall restaurants were increasing staffing, bracing for what they hope will be a busy lunchtime rush.

The Chipotle nearest to Target headquarters has two people manning the grill and four workers serving customers for lunch. At the Local, a banner advertises “Weekdays Extended Happy Hour” from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Irish pub kitty-corner from the headquarters.

Katerina Kruse, a host at the Local, said the restaurant increased its staff Tuesday because of Target’s annual event. After the event, she said, the pub plans to give Target’s downtown employees a 10% discount.

By 12:30 p.m., the restaurants were flooded with a sea of red as hundreds of Target employees took to the sidewalks and skyways in search of a bite to eat downtown.

— Emmy Martin

Other Minnesota companies are also sticking with hybrid work models. Leaders said the approach helps recruit talent, especially among professionals with caregiving responsibilities or long commutes.

St. Paul-based Affinity Plus has embraced a “virtual-first” model for roles that don’t need to be on site. Chief Talent Officer Julie Cosgrove said more than 60% of employees have remote working arrangements and only come in about once a month for collaboration or team building.

“We were challenged on finding a ‘why’ to return employees to the same workplace,” she said, adding there was no drop in engagement or performance during the pandemic. “Instead, we started to ask ourselves, ‘How could we build our workforce for the future vs. going back to what we had?’”

— Carson Hartzog and Victor Stefanescu

11:05 a.m. - While employees gathered inside Target Center for the retailer’s annual event, several activists stood outside protesting Target’s failure to meet its 2025 goal of selling only cage-free eggs by 2025.

“There’s no reason for Target to be falling short,” said Kent Stein, corporate policy specialist at Humane World for Animals. In July, activists delivered a petition with nearly 200,000 signatures to Target’s downtown Minneapolis headquarters demanding the retailer go cage-free.

— Emmy Martin

10:50 a.m. - A work wardrobe can sometimes seem frivolous as a subject of conversation. Even before the pandemic, the workplace was becoming more casual. Since workers have come back, styles range from office to office. But they definitely are not the buttoned down suits of the past, at least outside of big client meetings or court dates. The change has hit several area businesses that catered to the men in suits. Top Shelf tailors closed shop, and merged with another business. Hubert White, long a staple in the IDS Building, is closed.

— Catherine Roberts

10:40 a.m. - Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he thinks return-to-office policies Target and other downtown employers have imposed are a recognition of the value of in-person work.

“We need to make sure that it’s not just a place where people are coming into work at 8 a.m. and leaving at 5:30 p.m.,” Frey said in a recent interview. “You have all of these different activities all in one place. That’s part of what is going to make downtown successful.”

Read a full interview with Frey on Thursday.

— Katie Galioto

10:31 a.m. - Target’s closed-door meeting typically focuses on team-building, with a packed lineup of guest speakers and activities. It is also designed to energize employees before the crucial holiday season. In a LinkedIn post Monday, Jill Sando, Target’s chief merchandising officer of apparel and accessories, home and hardlines, said this year’s holiday discussions will feature “a lot of newness, exclusive partnerships, exceptional value, and the kind of joy you can only find at Target.”

The retailer is well known for high-profile partnerships with celebrities and popular brands, such as last year’s exclusive Taylor Swift merchandise and an April collaboration with Kate Spade.

— Carson Hartzog

10 a.m. - Kennedy Chiglo, an attorney with Taft Law Firm, waited for a friend outside the Starbucks in the IDS Center. She’s been back working in person for about a year and said she noticed more people downtown than usual on Tuesday.

“That’s why the parking was crazy today,” she said, adding that she plans to arrive earlier on Wednesday.

— Emmy Martin

9:50 a.m. - The recovery in downtown Minneapolis has been uneven since the pandemic, said Adam Duininck, CEO of the Minneapolis Downtown Council. Some parts of the North Loop and Washington Avenue “really haven’t slowed down,” he said. But certain parts of Nicollet Mall toward Target headquarters have remained relatively quiet. Downtown Minneapolis has also lagged behind other regions, Duininck said.

“We’ve had a lot of success because of some of the companies that have grown here, but we also have to think about the emerging industries,” Duininck said. “How can we support them and how can we have job growth in those areas and also be skating to where the puck is going as well.”

Read more about the rising hopes of downtown Minneapolis here.

— Carson Hartzog

9:45 a.m. - Twin Cities suburbs — home to handfuls of Fortune 500 companies — are joining in the return-to-office frenzy.

In Fridley and northward, many Medtronic employees are back in the office four days a week after the medtech giant increased the requirement by a day on Sept. 2. Similarly, Eden Prairie-based UnitedHealth Group called on its Twin Cities-based hybrid employees to return to the office four days per week starting in July.

In late 2024, Maplewood-based 3M told some employees to work from headquarters on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after holding back from enforcing such a policy far longer than many other companies. Food company General Mills called many employees back to Golden Valley Headquarters three days per week in February.

— Victor Stefanescu

9:30 a.m. - Several Target employees en route to Tuesday’s general session at Target Center declined to comment on the record about the retailer’s push to bring staff back into the office. Many said they already live in the Minneapolis area and weren’t concerned about commuting downtown three days a week. But others expressed confusion about why some divisions, namely Target’s commercial unit, were asked to return to the office while others were not.

The Minneapolis-based retailer hasn’t changed its corporate policy. The company’s “flex for your day” approach allows leaders to set team work plans based on roles and preferences. But Target has started requiring employees with local contracts to return to the office. The retailer offers employees two types of contracts based on location. Those with a local contract are typically assigned to the company’s downtown Minneapolis headquarters. Until recently, some employees were granted permission by team leaders to work outside Minnesota even if they held local contracts. Teams are sometimes made up of employees with both remote and local contracts, meaning some will be required to return to the office while others attend meetings via Zoom.

— Carson Hartzog

— Emmy Martin

9 a.m. - The annual meeting Tuesday was an opportunity for employees still working remotely to see their coworkers — including people from across the country. Austin Herman, 37, of Chanhassen, has been working remotely since the pandemic began. His enterprise sustainability team has stayed remote in part to attract employees with a specialized skill set, he said.

“We just want the best talent,” said Herman, a hockey fan who was wearing a bright red jersey with “Target” splashed across the front. There are benefits to seeing fellow remote teammates and being able to collaborate in person, Herman said, pausing for a moment to greet a coworker. He was also looking forward to spending a little time downtown and visiting his favorite eateries. But because his team is so far-flung, Herman said, it probably wouldn’t make sense to go back to the office full-time.

“I’m on Zoom calls anyways,” he said.

— Emma Nelson

— Tim Harlow

8:45 a.m. - Voices grew louder at the entrance of Target’s downtown headquarters early Tuesday morning. Joe Watson, strategy implementation lead at Target, has been working in person downtown for a while, so being downtown early Tuesday morning was not a big change, he said.

Most Target employees approached by the Minnesota Star Tribune declined to speak on the record about the company’s return to work policies.

— Emmy Martin

8:30 a.m. - At the peak of the morning rush hour, commuters found it slow going in the usual places in Minneapolis as traffic stacked up on inbound I-394, southbound I-35W where it joins with I-94, westbound 94 from Hwy. 280 to downtown and northbound I-35W from 26th Street into downtown.

— Tim Harlow

8:15 a.m. - A steady stream of Target employees clad in the corporation’s classic red, ranging from Hawaiian shirts to plaid flannels, filled the Nicollet Mall skyways and downtown streets as they made their way to the company’s headquarters on Tuesday morning.

“I wonder if Taylor Swift is going to perform,” one employee joked to a small group, prompting laughter as they walked through the skyway. Target’s annual pre-holiday meeting is known for featuring splashy musical guests, though a Target spokesperson said the event hasn’t hosted a performer the last two years.

“Have fun,” another told a friend as they split ways at the skyway entrance of the headquarters.

— Emmy Martin

“We have enough staff, we ramped up security, those types of things are going on,” Drew said. “We do have off-duty officers directing traffic. So we are doing some things because we know this week is very busy downtown.”

At the family-owned Park and Shop ramp near 8th Street and LaSalle Avenue, general manager Joe Obino said rates have held at $13 for three to 12 hours of parking since before the COVID-19 pandemic, when there was “no business to warrant increases.”

“It’ll be wonderful to see people in downtown,” Obino said.

— Emmy Martin