You can’t policy your way to happy employees. But Target sure is trying.
We all appreciate good customer service. But from an employment law and HR perspective, this policy raises some serious red flags.
What happens if an employee with anxiety, autism, or another disability struggles with forced social interaction? That’s a potential ADA accommodation issue.
What about employees who don’t “smile enough” or make “sufficient” eye contact? That’s an impossible-to-define performance standard ripe for inconsistency, which is the gray area where discrimination claims are born.
There’s also potential for harassment and retaliation claims. What if employees are told to smile and engage even with customers who are being rude, aggressive, or inappropriate. If an employee refuses such an interaction and gets written up or fired, you can bet there’s a retaliation claim coming.
And let’s not forget the obvious: you can’t mandate genuine warmth. You can only create a workplace where employees feel respected and supported enough that the smiles come naturally. If your workers are miserable, no amount of “friendly body language” training is going to fix that.
As one Reddit commenter correctly pointed out, “If your employees aren’t smiling at guests, it’s probably because your employees are wildly unhappy.” Exactly.
The 10-4 policy may look good on paper or in a press release, but if Target really wants happier customers, it should focus less on forced smiles and more on why its employees stopped smiling in the first place.
