Target: Measuring Employee Satisfaction

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The ideal job revolves around working for a company that leaves employees unsatisfied, disengaged, and unable to communicate with upper management, right? Wrong. As members of the work force, there are certain expectations from a company by the employees. While external effects could affect employee attitudes, it is typically an internal issue with the company. Target, as a corporation, struggles with marketing, sales to millennials, and the transition into a heavily digital platform. In managerial terms, though, Target seems to have few weaknesses. It is the corporation’s responsibility to their employees to ensure satisfaction and motivation. If workers are not intrinsically motivated by their jobs, then the company could be negatively affected. …show more content…

Target attempts to measure employee satisfaction annually, reporting that “the vast majority of our store team members reported they were satisfied with and proud to work for Target” (Weber), and repeatedly the results have outscored the benchmark data for retailers. By sending out this annual survey, Target is making an effort to measure employee satisfaction. The survey is an expense in the effort to increase revenues and retention. It would benefit Target to utilize websites such as Yelp or GlassDoor to get real-time updates on how employees feel about pay, the culture, and the corporation as a …show more content…

Through the tracking of customer purchases, preferences, and searches, Target can see upcoming trends and even personalize mailers. As efficient as this is, many consumers feel like it is a violation of their privacy. An “irate father visited [a Target and wanted to speak with a manager] because of a maternity-specific mailer his teen daughter had received” (Corrigan et al), claiming she wasn’t pregnant. Later on, he found out his daughter actually was pregnant and Target had known before he did. Through the use of data mining, Target had flagged the teen girl for purchasing specific items related to prenatal care or maternal care. Through a very specific algorithm, the corporation can determine likelihood of pregnancy and expected due date, to have personalized mailers. Target viewed this as an opportunity to convert shoppers. Charles Duhigg explains that “if companies can identify pregnant shoppers, they can earn millions” (Corrigan et al.). This mining facilitates a conversation in the corporate office to enhance marketing for these consumers and to market specific items using certain platforms. This is informal communication with consumers but formal communication within the company. The CMO has to direct the team to produce mailers for women regarding maternity

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