Target is a leading mid-tier retailer where style, quality and experience create value for our customers.

Our team of more than 22,000 seeks to put our customers at the heart of every decision we make.

Today our customers can shop at 301 stores nationwide and from our online store at shop.target .com.au

Key product ranges include ladieswear, intimate apparel, menswear, childrenswear and nursery, accessories and footwear, homewares, electrical, toys and other general merchandise.

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During the year, we started a journey to provide a better shopping experience for our customers. We remain committed to embedding sustainability into our business and making it a focus of everything we do.

In the area of safety, we engaged our store team with an educational DVD to improve awareness of safe work practices. We continued to invest in the development of our team through our Future Leaders program, women’s mentoring events and increased opportunities for Indigenous employment.

As part of our ongoing commitment to ethical sourcing, this year we improved our reporting processes and data management as a result of a full review.

We continue to reduce our energy consumption from air conditioning within stores with a progressive implementation of variable temperature settings that are linked to outside conditions and controlled fresh air levels. In addition, standards for automated controls for reduced lighting outside of trading hours were reinforced and power factor correction units were installed in selected stores to improve energy efficiencies.

The total community contribution was valued at $3.43 million, and we continued to make a positive difference through our support of national and local community initiatives.

Safety
In 2011/12 we maintained our commitment to the safety and development of the Target team through rigorous implementation of our SafetyCARE system at all sites. This year, our LTIFR was 8.01, slightly down compared to last year’s result of 8.14.

At Target, effective health and safety programs are driven through strong leadership and by educating our team members. It is important to us to foster a culture that empowers everyone to be responsible and accountable for health and safety. In March 2012, we launched a campaign including posters and a DVD titled ‘Target your safety’. It highlighted the three hazards that result in the highest number of incidents: manual handling; hitting stationary objects; and slips, trips and falls. These hazards will continue to be a key focus in 2012/13. Another way we engage our team is through our annual Safety Week which raises awareness of workplace safety.

Diversity
To gain an insight into the diversity of our team, we conducted a survey titled ‘Unlocking Our Diversity’. With a participation rate of 63 per cent, team members answered questions about their length of service, employment status, Indigenous background, education and carer commitments. In June 2012, Target launched a Diversity Steering Committee to set policy and objectives and provide strategic guidance on key diversity issues in the communities where we operate.

In March, 10 store managers participated in an Indigenous Action Plan Forum to learn more about building relationships with Indigenous communities, raising cultural awareness within our teams and increasing Indigenous employment. Target also continues to support the Jawun Secondment Program, with one of our store managers completing a secondment in Shepparton, Victoria, and our new Managing Director attended the Jawun Executive Leadership Program.

Training and development
This year we continued to expand our development programs and foster the knowledge and skills of our team. During the year, 398 team members completed our successful Future Leaders program. After graduating, our future managers continue with the Target Store Leadership program, which provides effective learning and development. We currently have 616 team members enrolled in this program. To date, 11 team members have graduated with Diplomas in Business Management and a further 30 team members are currently undertaking this qualification. In 2012 we commenced the development and implementation of a Target graduate program.

At the end of a second My Mentor Women’s Development program, a total of 70 women across Target had completed the course. In addition, 15 senior male executives participated in a Mastering Gender in Leadership program, which is designed to make men more aware of gender diversity issues. At the end of the reporting year, 44 per cent of management roles were held by women, up three per cent from last year.

Throughout the year, we continued to review key merchandise areas to identify further opportunities to reduce excess packaging. We implemented a process for stores to identify and report excess packaging issues to remove unnecessary waste. We expanded our survey data to estimate our water use. In 2011/12, this is estimated to be a total of 306 megalitres per year, which equates to 79 litres per full-time employee per day.

Energy efficiency
During the year, we continued to focus on ways to reduce energy consumption. We completed a program in most stores to adjust temperature settings by between one and two degrees and have regular analysis of air conditioning control systems.

Reducing waste
A focus across stores this year has been recycling metal fittings and fixtures back into new projects rather than sending them to landfill. In Queensland, 160 pallets of store fixtures have been allocated to projects, delivering considerable environmental and financial savings. Selected new stores will be completely fitted out with recycled racking. In New South Wales, metal recycling has resulted in more than 25 tonnes being diverted from landfill.

Our total greenhouse gas emissions were 231,090 tonnes of CO2e, down six per cent on last year. Our greenhouse gas emissions were largely due to electricity consumption from lighting and air-conditioning in our stores. Total energy consumption was 773,097 gigajoules, down six per cent on last year. This energy use included 88 per cent electricity and seven per cent transport fuel.

During the year, we continued to strengthen communications with our suppliers to improve compliance with the Target Ethical Sourcing Code. Following a full review in 2011/12 of our Code and business procedures, we standardised operations across our teams, enhanced reporting and systems and engaged our suppliers through forums. The Code has now been extended to all Target vendors, including national brands.

In 2011/12, 895 factory audits were conducted, which included 343 conducted by third party auditors and 552 that were acknowledged through our mutual recognition program. Three zero-tolerance issues were detected. These factories were deregistered as suppliers due to non-compliance with our Code relating to two cases of bribery and one incident in breach of local child labour laws.

Stakeholder engagement
Engagement with our stakeholders continues to be a focus for Target. In 2011/12, we conducted property and business building strategy forums, customer focus sessions, supplier awards, business updates and regional road shows with team members.

During the year, our total customer contacts were 81,536. This included a significant increase from customers engaging online and with social media.

Our engagement rate on Facebook was 24.1 per cent in May 2012 and 253,464 people ‘liked’ our Facebook page by 30 June. During this period, we introduced new social media activities, including our Facebook offers, which contributed to this increase.

At Target we strive to enhance the areas we operate in through strong community partnerships. This year our total community contribution was valued at $3.43 million, with almost $2.05 million contributed by our customers and team members.

In 2011, Target and UnitingCare Australia celebrated 20 years’ partnership through the annual Operation Santa Appeal at Christmas, with 81,463 gifts and $149,590 worth of gift cards donated by generous customers.

We supported the SIDS and Kids Red Nose Day with a major publicity event televising a toy drop in Sydney. Combined with our in-store fundraising, we donated more than $199,460 to the campaign.

In addition, we continue to partner organisations that support safe happy families through our regional donations program, St John Ambulance first aid courses, store donations, in-kind support through the donation of goods and various volunteering programs.

In March 2012 we partnered with Deakin University. Through this partnership we awarded financial scholarships to six students studying for their Bachelor of Education (Primary School) at the Institute of Koori Education.

Sustainability at Target is founded on four key areas – our customers, our culture, our suppliers and our environment. We aim to minimise our impact on the environment through the development of a sustainability strategy with clear and measurable targets.

To support this aim, we will maintain our commitment to the safety of our teams, customers and suppliers by continually looking at ways to reduce the risk of injuries. We are committed to leveraging the diversity of our team by continuing to explore and implement initiatives that support our focus on women in leadership and Indigenous employment. We will continue to implement energy efficiencies that aim to reduce our energy use and greenhouse gas emissions from lighting and air conditioning in our stores to benefit our business and minimise our environmental impacts. To support the communities in which we operate, we aim to make a positive difference by building partnerships that assist families and children. Across our business we continue to engage with suppliers to improve and broaden compliance with our Ethical Sourcing Code and ensure good corporate behaviour in all aspects of our operations.