Target Corp. cut 1,700 people at its corporate offices in the Twin Cities on Tuesday, the largest downsizing of its headquarters staff ever and the biggest at any Minnesota company since 2002.
The retailer's top managers had set the company's employees on edge a week before by announcing plans to cut "several thousand" corporate jobs. On Tuesday they lost no time in implementing their plan, with workers cut loose en masse.
Target then released a statement announcing the precise number of the layoffs. The company added that 1,400 open jobs would not be filled. The cuts amounted to 13 percent of the 13,000 HQ employees in the metro area. They come on top of the 550 corporate workers in the Twin Cities who were let go last month because of Target's decision to close its Canadian operations.
The cuts are part of an effort by Target to save about $500 million this year. Chief executive Brian Cornell last week said they were necessary to speed up decisions and projects at the nation's fourth-largest retailer.
"Today is a very difficult day for the Target team," the company said in a statement, "but we believe these are the right decisions for the company."
By midmorning, fired workers were streaming out of Target offices, many carrying their personal items in identical boxes. Some were accompanied by colleagues who'd survived the cuts.
In downtown Minneapolis, where Target is the largest employer with 10,000 people, groups of Target employees huddled in skyways with colleagues who were let go. Some wiped at the corners of their eyes and exchanged hugs.
"I was going in feeling OK. I didn't prep for this," said Chris Webley, a 27-year-old fabric engineer, as he left Target's Nicollet Mall tower with some colleagues. He'd gone to work thinking there was a 50-50 chance his job would survive.