Target to boot 900 staff from Geelong HQ

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Target's $21 million accounting sham

An attempt by a number of Target employees to try and bolster the company������s half-yearly earnings by $21 million has been uncovered. Vision courtesy ABC News 24

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Target is abandoning Geelong and cutting staff as the underperforming discount department store relocates to new headquarters west of Melbourne.

Less than one week after announcing the exit of outgoing Target managing director Stuart Machinover the use of rebates to boost the retailer's first-half earnings, Wesfarmers managing director Richard Goyder was on Thursday forced to confirm plans to slash staff and move Target's headquarters to Melbourne.

Target owes its workforce a practical outcome for workers affected by this decision.

Federal Labor MP Richard Marles

Mr Goyder would not comment on the exact size of the redundancies however he said a voluntary redundancy process would be put in place.

Target is quitting its Geelong headquarrters and cutting staff in a bid to improve the discount department store's performance.

Sources close to the retailer suggest up to 25 per cent of Target's 900 staff could be cutand Mr Goyder confirmed seven senior staff had already left in the wake of the rebate scandal.

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'No decision'

On Wednesday a spokeswoman for Target said Wesfarmers chief of department stores Guy Russo was still travelling  around Australia talking to Target staff and no decision had been made on any redundancies.

The relocation to Melbourne will deal a big blow to Geelong and the Australian Services Union characterised the decision as a "disgrace."

"It is utterly reprehensible that workers at Target are the ones paying the price for the highly questionable business practices of the former management team with suppliers, aimed at boosting profits," Victorian private sector branch secretary, Ingrid Stitt said

"We now find out they are walking away from the Geelong community altogether, Geelong can ill afford another blow to the local economy like this," Ms Stitt said.

'Unwelcome surprise'

Federal Labor MP Richard Marles warned Wesfarmers to treat the Target staff with respect.

Mr Marles said Thursday's announcement came as "an unwelcome surprise for me, as I'm sure it will be for many others."

"Target owes its workforce a practical outcome for workers affected by this decision,"

"Geelong has been a great home to Target over many years. Its workforce deserves to be respected."

However retail analysts supported the move with one suggesting the Geelong location played a role in the rebate scandal.

"I think Geelong has been a factor for Target, I think there might have been some people who wanted to make Target look good so that it could stay there," he said.

"Maybe the Wesfarmers culture found it a bit hard to get down to Geelong."

Numbers not finalised

Market watchers suggest the final numbers at Target are likely to be affected by a number of new hires, given comments by Mr Goyder that it needed to be close to Melbourne to attract new talent.

"We're advising people today in Geelong that we will relocate the Target head office somewhere west of Melbourne in the next year or so and that's so we can attract some of the people we want to bring into the business and frankly we do want to drive some change through the business," Mr Goyder said

"We haven't finalised numbers, we're not talking about huge job losses."

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