Pros
Some coworkers are lovely people, it's not like Target gave them those personalities, but they reap that benefit of wide hiring practices. They will hire basically anyone who wants a job, even the most hopeless can be given 3 months to prove themselves. It pays some bills, barely. They recently decided to embrace advancing their presence in the online sphere and moving forward competitively there.
Cons
No training unless it's online, on your device, on your data, on your time and no 1 on 1, definitely no shadow training, no staff or time allocated for that, for a new hire it's sink or swim with no support. No respect of personal time. Will expect you to stay longer than your shift to cover up for their poor planning and penny squeezing. You will have to fight hard for any overtime you're legally entitled to. Caught underpaying staff and managers for years. Casualisation of their workforce is rampant. Will manipulate casual shifts so they aren't eligible for part time conversion. They will do everything to avoid paying first aid trained staff appropriately. Wesfarmers have never figured out how to successfully run their retail operations without compromise of business integrity, Kmart's reputation rebuild was an outlier success story purely because of Guy, who was unable to apply those skills effectively at Target due to its difference in price point position in the market, and these skills were lost to Wesfarmers when he retired. Company talks out of both sides of their mouth. Constant downsizing of staff. Have to be dragged kicking and screaming towards evolving the business towards better economic practices. Permanent roles barely exist anymore. Years of institutional knowledge is lost regularly and the company does nothing to retain any of it or the staff who have it. Full time roles were made redundant and part time and casual staff expected to pick up the slack with only a 5c pay rise not attached to a minimum wage rise. "Bonuses" are just gift cards to the business that is used to pad out future sales numbers, essentially a gift to themselves, not the staff. If bonus is below certain threshold it's absorbed by your store and you see nothing of it. If you're young your needs and availability will not be looked at equally and will be disregarded. All talk, no walk. Boasts about paying suppliers and manufacturers liveable wages but not true, have recently been exposed. Still has recycling standards and procedures from late 90s early 00s and uses cost excuses and recent pandemic blame for lack of action. Won't discuss issues raised by staff publicly in the work app they claim is for open communication in the business, staff are told management will deal with them directly. Everything is swept under the rug and never in writing so they can avoid responsibility. Once saw a post in the work app claiming abuse of power from management. Archaic regional managers who stranglehold wages from stores. Old equipment that contractors are desperate to replace are constantly adjusted to the barest of standards so store management doesn't take a hit to their personal bonus. Company refused to adjust its failing business model until covid and then blamed covid for their poor business choices when covid saved them from much worse. Allowing covid positive team members to work, on register shifts, with no mask. Regional management were changing conditions of entry during height of pandemic until threats of police and legal action came from concerned staff. Visits from higher ups go as usual with one off moments of actual correct wage spending to get the store into an acceptable condition to get their lies in order, couldn't possibly let anyone know the true human cost of running a business successfully including their own managers, and it's as usual counter-productive. Career progression is basically non existing unless you're willing to either join in on overworking your underpaid staff or personally overwork yourself to meet constantly rising expectations, I've watched so many good hard working people have mental breakdowns that eventually have them leave the business as they are forced to make a decision between themselves and a company that has no loyalty. Everyone I know who has worked for the company for more than 5 years has been put on antidepressants or some form of stress medication, myself included. More time and responsibilities with this company will not reflect on your resume and most other industries will not consider skills learnt here transferable in any useful way, none of the experience will be regarded as equal experience outside of retail or hospitality This company is not a career builder on anything other than subpar standards and corner cutting. It's a shame that since being under Wesfarmers, to anyone paying attention, Target continues to have a diminishing reputation both internally and publicly.