Target Corp. plans to increase its number of Black employees by 20% over the next three years as part of its growing efforts to build a more diverse and inclusive company, executives said.
The Minneapolis retailer on Thursday announced its latest commitment to racial equity as it also made public more detailed information about the ethnic and gender makeup of its employees and leaders.
Target's total workforce last year was 360,000, with 25% of employees Latino, 15% Black, 5% Asian and 5% people who identified as mixed race, American Indian or other underrepresented groups.
However, the diversity is less the higher the position, with 61% of managers, 71% of company officers and 75% of Target's leadership team being white. For example, Black employees account for only 5% of Target's executives or senior level officials and managers.
"That data really reveals the need for some additional focus on the advancement and retention of our Black team members," said Kiera Fernandez, Target's vice president of human resources and chief diversity and inclusion officer. "So in addition to sharing this workforce diversity data in a disaggregated way, we know that we also have to make some systemic changes to increase the representation of our Black team members across the company."
Target is more balanced in terms of gender diversity with 58% of all employees and 42% of its leadership team being female.
Census numbers show that the largest minority groups in the U.S. are Latinos, who make up 18.5% of the population, and Black people, who make up about 13%.
Thursday's diversity report was the most detailed Target has ever released. Company executives said the company will start to release the details annually.
