Target preps for the holidays by increasing employee hours, pay

Although the holiday shopping season is still months away, Target is already setting in motion a plan for employees.

The retailer announced that it would be offering its team members five million additional hours, resulting in more than $75 million more in wages for its employees, the company said.

“Our team continues to deliver time and time again, showing incredible resilience and flexibility to meet the needs of our guests. Years of investments have helped us build an operating model within our stores that benefits our team, delivers for our guests and drives our business,” said Mark Schindele, the chief stores officer at Target.

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In order to offer team members their preferred schedules and more hours, Target will have store leaders check in with employees to get a better understanding of their scheduling preferences and offer the opportunity to work additional hours if interested.

As result, this preferred scheduling will lead to the hiring of fewer seasonal team members than in previous years, the company said.

Employees will also have access to on-demand scheduling, which the retailer launched this summer via a mobile app. This mobile scheduling tool allows team members to easily pick up additional hours and switch their available shifts.

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Lastly, Target will continue to offer backup training to team members as a way to support such in-demand areas as order pickup and drive up.

“Our strategy is only possible because of Target’s incredible team. We have worked to provide our team members with more consistent schedules, which means more consistent paychecks and a more consistent way to manage their life. Additionally, we are offering more hours to team members who want them and continuing our important investment in training and development. When we invest in and care for our team we know that guest service improves, turnover goes down and team members can more easily build rewarding careers at Target,” Melissa Kremer, the chief human resources officer at Target said.