Earlier this month, on a subreddit for Target team members, an employee posted an image from a Target breakroom of a wall labelled “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion,” with a large bulletin board that was empty, except for remnants of tape and posters that had been removed.
“Damn,” the employee wrote. “Okay, so it’s like that 🥴.”
The employee was referring to Target announcing in late January that it was rolling back its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. In its announcement, Target stated that the “next chapter” of what had been its DEI program would now be called “Belonging at the Bullseye,” and indeed, another employee commented on Reddit, “Yup, our DEI red board turned into a ‘Belonging’ board.”
Other employees reported witnessing managers tearing down posters that had been on their stores’ DEI boards, including one who identified as a “human resources expert.”
“As an HRE this shit sucks to have a front row seat to,” the employee wrote in another thread on the subreddit. “Watching my manager tear down our DEI materials and just fuckin throw them in the trash. Parinirvana day, Holocaust remembrance, right in the bin where Target feels they belong.”
Retail Brew asked Target to comment on these accounts of diversity materials being removed and destroyed, and on other employees’ claims that stores’ revenues have fallen because of backlash over its DEI reversal. Target did not respond.
Target had in recent years been a vocal supporter of racial and social justice, so when like many companies it capitulated to the Trump administration, which has dismissed DEI as “woke” and urged private companies to dismantle their diversity programs, Target has been subjected to more intense consumer backlash and boycotts than other companies that caved.
Among those disappointed in Target: some of its own employees. The Target subreddit, which has existed since 2010 and is neither affiliated with nor endorsed by the company, includes plenty of employees who are no fans of DEI and support their employer spiking the program.
But many Target employees are upset, and some are reporting on Reddit that because of consumer backlash, their hours are getting cut and they’re getting sent home from stores that are so dead that they’re closing early.
Drubreddit: “We’re being told at my high traffic store that they will be cutting hours even more due to the boycotting,” an employee identifying as a style consultant posted on March 4. “They are saying that we are one of two stores in our region that have maintained sales, while the other targets have not.”
Other recent posts from employees:
- “My store has had a huge cut back on hours.. we have also not met sales for two weeks and it is unusually slow since the DEI announcement.”
- “Our store started closing early today at 10 instead of 11. And it’s happening all this week. I think it’s the boycott too.”
- “We used to be a really busy high volume store but now the store is dead quiet.”
- “My store is still busy on average, however, ever since the dei pullout we have not hit our daily sales goals.”
- “Our store has steadily dropped in profits vs projected profits since [the] end of DEI. Saw a brief incline around Valentien’s Day [sic] then back down, daily.”
- “Honestly since the DEI announcement we’ve been slower. But this area is full of POC.” (The poster identified as a Starbucks barista in a Target on Long Island, New York.)
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Other stores seem unaffected, and some employees even reported their stores were busier than usual.
“My store’s sales have been higher than projected [for the] last two months,” posted one employee.
But responding to another employee who said their store was unaffected and Target overall “is not losing money” because of backtracking on DEI, another commenter disagreed.
“Redcard Services and Guest Relations has been flooded by people cancelling their Redcards and complaining,” wrote the poster, referring to the company’s store credit card and customer service line. “I’m glad your location hasn’t been impacted but it’s objectively false to think Target isn’t going to lose money for this.”
Foot traffic at Target has fallen for six consecutive weeks, according to Placer.ai, whose most recent data includes the week that began March 3.
“This is particularly crushing”: After Target announced rolling back DEI, it will come as no surprise that some LGBTQ+ employees took it hard.
“Well this feels like a personal attack as a team member who’s openly trans,” wrote one employee.
“My team is pretty much all queer of one variety or another,” wrote another shortly after the announcement. “This week has been devastating.”
“As a trans woman,” added yet another, “this is particularly crushing.”
But critics within the company certainly aren’t limited to those who identify in their posts as LGBTQ+.
“Fucking disgraceful,” posted one employee about the DEI reversal. “I used to be proud to work for this company.”
“This is a slap in the face to all the diverse team members at Target,” added another. “One of our core values is supposed to be inclusivity. I’m extremely disappointed in this company, but I’m not shocked.”