Target praises 'well-organized' back rooms in earnings call after reports of overcrowded conditions
- In an earnings call with investors on Wednesday, Target executives praised a new process for inventory management in stores.
- The new system — called "modernization" internally — calls for a change in how stores function nationwide and includes the elimination of some overnight and back room shifts.
- "Our teams are telling us that their back rooms have never been so well-organized going into a holiday season," Target's chief operating officer, John Mulligan, said in the earnings call on Wednesday.
- Since the program was rolled out in August, Business Insider has spoken with more than 50 former and current Target workers, many of whom said the modernization program had changed their stores for the worse, making their back rooms increasingly overcrowded.
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Target just reported stellar earnings for its third quarter, including a comparable sales increase of 4.5%.
In a call with investors on Wednesday, executives praised the company's new initiatives, including the national rollout of a new model for stocking and replenishing inventory, elements of a program that is internally dubbed "modernization."
In the Wednesday earnings call, Target executives praised the new program's results.
"Our teams are telling us that their back rooms have never been so well-organized going into a holiday season," Target's chief operating officer, John Mulligan, said during the call, adding that there has been a 17% reduction in back room inventory units since August.
Since the program was rolled out in August, Business Insider has spoken with more than 50 former and current Target workers, many of whom said the modernization program had changed their stores for the worse, making their back rooms increasingly overcrowded.
Following the publication of a Business Insider article in October that detailed the conditions workers say were brought about by modernization, four current and former Target employees in Arizona, Houston, New Jersey, and California told Business Insider that they had noticed or heard of changes happening in their stores to address the issues reported.
"Our store leaders and team members undergo mandatory safety training every year and we invest in the technology, tools and processes that keep our stores safe and ensure we comply with all federal safety guidelines. We work quickly to investigate and remedy issues anytime we receive safety-related concerns from our team members," Target said in a statement to Business Insider in October.
In the Wednesday call, Mulligan said that the new model "will allow our team to provide an elevated experience for our guest throughout the holidays."
Target declined to comment further for this story.
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