Target faces backlash over remote work policy in downtown Minneapolis
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Target's Nicollet Mall headquarters. Photo: AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
Several business owners and commercial real estate leaders say Target needs to join other downtown Minneapolis corporations and bring its workers back into the office, according to a report in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.
Why it matters: An entire ecosystem of restaurants, office towers, and apartments serving Target workers and vendors had come to depend on the company's employees being in the office.
State of play: Target has no companywide policy requiring its corporate workers to come into its downtown or Brooklyn Park offices.
- Meanwhile, big downtown employers such as Xcel Energy, U.S. Bank, and Ameriprise are requiring their employees to be back on certain days.
What they're saying: "Where's Target? They're happy to have their names on our sports stadiums, but I feel like they don't have our city's back right now," Jonathan Saliterman, co-founder of real estate firm Randolph Street Realty Capital, told the Biz Journal.
- Added restaurateur David Fhima: "We've lost an arm and a leg staying put and waiting for downtown to get back. We're done waiting. We're calling on Target: Do your part, please."
The other side: While not required, some Target employees still work in the office. In a statement to Axios, Target spokesperson Jennifer Kron said "thousands" of employees work regularly in the downtown headquarters and "we stand strong in our longstanding commitment to Minneapolis, which has been our home for more than 60 years."
Between the lines: Mayor Jacob Frey is quoted in the story as saying that all of the city's big employers should be bringing their workers back Tuesday through Thursday.
Yes, but: An Axios data practices request revealed that the city has no broad policy requiring its workers to be in the office on a certain number of days either.
- Ally Peters, a spokesperson for the mayor's office, told Axios that Frey directed department heads earlier this year to ensure employees are in the office at least two days a week. She added that the staff is working on a written policy.