Day after day, our team members show up as heroes for the families who turn to Target for essentials like food, medicine, cleaning products and pantry staples. As they keep up that courageous work, Target continues to invest in our teams and their families’ wellbeing.
Today, we shared an update on how Target is managing through the COVID-19 pandemic, including the latest investments in our team. We’re extending the temporary $2-an-hour wage increase for all frontline team members until May 30—an opportunity to earn hundreds of dollars more on average in this new timeframe. We’ll also continue to provide free, safe and reliable backup care for loved ones and paid leave for team members. That’s on top of more than $300 million Target has already committed toward wages, bonuses, paid leave, benefits and relief fund contributions.
Read on to learn more about our team’s ongoing work and what we’re seeing in the business.
Taking care of our team members and their families
Families are at the heart of Target’s purpose, and as our team members continue serving guests in this time of need, it’s incredibly important that they’re able to take care of themselves and their own families.
Extending our temporary wage increase and backup care benefits is one way we’re recognizing the team’s significant contributions, along with dedicated shopping hours, product discounts and more just for them. We also provide a wide range of paid leave options and benefits, including up to 30 days of paid leave for those who are 65 or older, pregnant or have underlying medical conditions as defined by the CDC.
To help our teams stay healthy, we put enhanced safety measures in place at our stores and distribution centers, including protective equipment like face masks and gloves to use during their shifts. We also make sure they have the resources needed to practice CDC-recommended healthy hygiene habits, including free thermometers upon request to perform at-home health checks before coming to work.
Managing the business and meeting new challenges
While our team is keeping a close eye on shifts in shopping behaviors as guests react to the pandemic, we built Target’s strategy to be durable and sustainable in any environment. Right now, that strength is driving our business in the face of all this change, and allowing us to make considerable investments to support our team, keep store environments safe, and adjust to serve our guests conveniently on their terms.
As a result, we’re seeing record-setting digital growth, strong demand for our same-day fulfillment services, and broad market share gains. And while this crisis is putting pressure on our profitability in the short-term, that pressure is far outweighed by doing right by our team and our guests, and focusing on our future.
Supporting teams, guests and communities now and in the future
No matter what the coming weeks may hold, we’re committed to doing all we can to meet our communities’ essential needs. Our teams have put multiple measures in place to make our shopping environment safer for everyone—including rigorous cleaning and social distancing processes, monitoring foot traffic and metering when needed, Plexiglass partitions throughout the store, and dedicated shopping hours for vulnerable guests. We’ve staffed up to support contactless Drive Up service and added 80,000 new Shipt shoppers to accommodate demand for home delivery.
We’ll continue to support our community partners near and far through our $10 million relief fund. We’re also donating an additional 2 million KN95 respirator masks to the medical community, on top of previous donations of anti-viral and N95 respirator masks to first responders and healthcare professionals across the country. And of course, we’ll keep monitoring and adjusting to provide additional support as needed.
