This is an interesting article from Modern Retail analyzing the retail industry’s role in October’s sky-high job cut numbers. The short story is that retailers were the 3rd largest job reducer, behind only warehousing and non-profit sectors. I have some thoughts.

The closing quote in the article is from Target’s chief operating officer Michael Fiddelke. He says about the company’s recent decision to lay off 1,000 corporate employees and not fill 800 currently-open roles:

“The complexity we’ve created over time has been holding us back. Too many layers and overlapping work have slowed decisions, making it harder to bring ideas to life.”

There is no question the retail industry moves fast and decisions need to be made quickly. Decision making, however, is not at the root of this quote from Fiddelke. It’s about putting more work and responsibility on the shoulders of those who remain at the company.

Overlapping work is the key term to understand and interrogate here. I doubt overlapping here means duplicative. It likely means connected or dependent. In that case, if I’m doing work that’s connected to or dependent on your work, and I get laid off, who’s going to pick up the “overlapping” work I was doing? That’s right. You are.

You can only cut retail headcount (both frontline and corporate) so much before the lean operations begin to show themselves in the customer experience. And for most retailers, that’s the one thing they can’t afford to sacrifice.