Target eliminating 1,800 positions, laying off 1,000 workers

Target Corp. will cut 1,800 positions from its corporate headcount, the second-largest downsizing of its headquarters staff.

Affected employees won’t learn their status until Tuesday, leaving them to wonder through a long weekend.

The restructuring will cut about 1,000 employees and close roughly 800 open positions — some 8% of Target’s global workforce. All U.S. corporate staff have been asked to work remotely next week.

The Minneapolis-based retailer said changes were not made to cut costs but to make operations more agile and improve decision-making.

“This spring, we launched our enterprise acceleration efforts with a clear ambition: to move faster and simplify how we work to drive Target’s next chapter of growth,” incoming CEO Michael Fiddelke said in a Thursday note to employees. “The truth is, the complexity we’ve created over time has been holding us back. Too many layers and overlapping work have slowed decisions, making it harder to bring ideas to life.”

Leadership roles are being affected at about three times the rate of other jobs, the company said. Those who lose their jobs will continue receiving pay and benefits through Jan. 3, in addition to severance packages and other support.

Rumors of layoffs had been circulating for weeks, much of it on anonymous chat sites. The company declined to comment on whether further cuts would be made.

“While there is some truth in Target’s assertion that its job cuts are a consequence of simplification, they are also the result of a business that has been underperforming for a long time,” said Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail, in an analyst note.

The cuts, he added, should be paired with a shift in corporate culture and questioned longtime CEO Brian Cornell’s move to executive chair, a concern shared by other analysts.

The retailer has now logged more than 20 consecutive weeks of decreased foot traffic, according to Placer.ai. The company saw a slight bump around Easter but has struggled to draw customers back since the boycott over its DEI decision began in January.

Target last laid off a significant number of corporate employees in 2015, when 1,700 workers were let go — about 13% of its headquarters staff. Another 1,400 open positions went unfilled. It was the retailer’s largest headquarters downsizing, part of a plan to save $500 million after a failed expansion into Canada and a data breach during the 2013 holiday season.

The company also cut portions of its marketing team last year, representing about 0.3% of its corporate workforce. A WARN notice was not filed. Instead, affected employees were told they would remain on the payroll for 60 days and could apply for new jobs.

A recent survey by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) found jobseekers are having a harder time finding work than last year, especially in management, IT and creative fields. Recruiters across the country have said job availability depends on the industry, with more openings in health care than in software development.

Many companies are holding off on hiring amid economic uncertainty and changing tariff policies. The hiring rate in August slipped to 3.2%, the lowest since June 2024, while layoffs held steady at a low level, according to the BLS. The number of people who quit their jobs also fell to the lowest level this year, suggesting workers are feeling more uneasy about finding new opportunities.

Target’s announcement follows similar moves by other major retailers, including Walmart, Best Buy and Starbucks, signaling a broader shift in corporate structure.

Walmart cut about 1,500 jobs from its global technology team in May. The Arkansas-based retailer, which employs about 1.6 million people in the United States, does not break out its corporate staffing numbers.

Starbucks is laying off about 900 non-retail employees as part of a $1 billion restructuring plan aimed at boosting sluggish sales and closing some stores.

It’s not just retailers making cuts.

General Mills began layoffs earlier this year as part of a multi-year reorganization, with one analyst estimating 500 to 600 job losses across North America.

Last December, Cargill eliminated 8,000 positions, including 475 at its Minnetonka headquarters.

Target executives have been hinting at a restructuring in recent months.

“At our headquarters, team structures and processes have significant opportunities to improve,” Fiddelke said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call. “Everything we do should be in service of our guests, and we’re evaluating how to best ensure our resources and talent better align with our strategy. This evaluation requires that we take a hard look at where, when and how we work.”