November 21, 2025
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Should Target Associates Be Mandated To Smile?
Target is instituting a new program requiring employees who are within 10 feet of customers to smile, make eye contact, wave, and use friendly, approachable, and welcoming body language.
If staff members are within 4 feet of customers, they must personally greet the guests, smile, and initiate a warm, helpful interaction, Target told USA Today.
The program — called “10-4” — is designed to elevate the shopping experience for patrons, making them feel appreciated.
“We know when our guests are greeted, feel welcomed and get the help they need that translates to guest love and loyalty,” Adrienne Costanzo, Target’s EVP and chief stores officer, said in a statement to USA Today. “Heading into the holiday, we’re making adjustments and implementing new ways to increase connection during the most important time of the year powered by our team.”
The move comes as Target has been struggling with weak traffic for several quarters. On Wednesday, Target lowered its earnings guidance for the year as same-store sales fell for the third consecutive quarter.
Target did not specify when the new policy will be implemented, or what would happen if an employee does not comply.
Target Associates, Management Staff Seemingly Weigh in on Social Media
However, one Reddit user who claims to be a Target employee shared that their team leader indicated they’re “supposed to have conversations with you if you’re not doing it [the protocol]. Also there has been an increase in secret shoppers to see if you’re actually doing it.”
Several other alleged Target employees on the same Reddit post agreed that the new policy would likely backfire.
One said, “Who the heck waves? I’ve never waved at a guest and would feel so uncomfortable doing so!”
Another said, “I feel like this is a more aggressive way of letting customers know that you’re watching them. Just say hi or good morning to guests who pass you, what’s the big deal in that?”
One customer in the Reddit thread stated, “Introverted customer here, I do not want to be acknowledged, waved to, smiled at, unless I approach an employee! Let me shop in peace!”
Still, several alleged Target employees felt the request was a basic expectation of a store associate. One said: “Y’all are thinking too hard about it. It’s as simple as ‘need anything?,’ ‘You doing alright,’ ‘How’s it going?,’ ‘Finding everything?’”
One alleged manager said, “To be fair at my store it was explained as 10 feet away is any kind of non-verbal acknowledgement (smile, nod, whatever), and 4 feet is a verbal acknowledgement (just a hey, hi, hello) then the team is supposed to gauge their reaction to decide if the guest needs more or not. If they just want to be left alone, leave them to it.
“That being said I told my team what’s expected of them, and off the record told them there’s no way for me to enforce it, but they will be called out by other leaders, that they might be asked what it is, and that our DSD was in the store earlier this week checking if we were doing it,” the post continued.
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Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
What do you think of Target’s 10-4 policy basically directing associates to acknowledge customers within 10 feet and greet them within four feet?
Should store associates be irked at any parts of the policy, including possibly being reprimanded?
Poll
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Rather than mandating smiles, Target’s senior management should give associates reasons to be naturally cheerful. Unfortunately, they have completely failed at this task over recent years by overwhelming associates with work, not listening to them, and not making proper investments in stores and processes. All that said, I have found almost every associate in Target to be helpful and polite. Ultimately, Target’s woes are not down to the people in the stores – they’re down to the people in the boardroom.
No need for me to add anything. “Mandating employees to smile is insane
The Boardroom is one thing…but there are certain departments at Target that need a lot of help – toys, electronics and home goods in particular. At one point in time fast fashion was all the rage at Target and it had a cache about it. Today, it serves as a convenient place to shop and a decent price : value profile.
I think you’re right (if I interpreted you correctly): if they really want to
put this to the acid test, it’s the Board members who should be forced
to smile (tho one suspects any smiling they’ve done lately has been
either coerced…or clueless)
What if you are really lousy with spatial skills and don’t know the difference between 10 and 4 feet? Honestly, this should never have made the light of day. Every employee on the floor of a store whether big box or intimate specialty retail should be friendly to the extent of offering help or assistance. For this Christmas holiday season do shop at Target the store needs all the help it can get!
When Target operated in Canada, store teams stood out precisely because of their consistent cheerfulness. So wild how, a decade later, smiles are being mandated.
This new policy reflects traditional retail coaching for hospitality for a new generation of workers. It also suggests the employee experience and morale have changed.
OK, everything needs to be viewed in context.
When it comes to front line staff, I always say, ‘unless someone has told you otherwise, the customer is your first priority’. “Mandating” to smile isn’t the right approach … but from the time you’re hired, the expectation is that you provide the service your customers want, need and deserve. A smile? Darn right. Saying ‘hi’? It’s just a human thing to do.
Too many retailers have lost the plot … chasing every new shiny ball that comes along. The increased sales they need are already in there store. Seems silly to me that suggesting we do what is purely common sense is an actual story.
The concept is fine. The specifics – perhaps not surprisingly (since we now expect Target to do everything wrong) – seem overly rigid.
Every associate on the sales floor, in any store, should acknowledge customers in a friendly way (although avoid the dreaded “May I help you?” which triggers “No thanks, just looking”). But mandating a wave and a smile feels forced, bordering on robotic.
Target’s 10-4 policy is essentially a baseline expectation in retail; acknowledging customers consistently does improve their experience. Some of the pushback feels overstated, and if a simple greeting feels overwhelming, the role may not be the right fit.
That said, the policy only works if it’s applied with common sense. If leaders use it flexibly and with empathy rather than rigid enforcement, it can benefit both the store and the employees.
Mandating smiles is forcing someone to give a hard-to-fake, authentic facial gesture. True smiling is an outcome of something gone right, a connection made, a job well done. This mandate will backfire and make things worse.
Target leadership should instead focus on giving store employees tools to take care of customers, solve problems, and make their shopping trip better. Then in the process, yes, its OK to ask, even mandate store teams be friendly and greet customers.
Every time I read about a highly publicized effort by Target I become more concerned for the company. Mandated specific employee behavior in front of customers ensures unhappy customers. Why? Customers interact with human employees and humans understand, quite well, what behavior is appropriate for the moment. Nothing destroys the human value in a store faster than mandates like this.
How’s your day going? and 2 or 3 other over used, non genuine phrases coming to a Target store near you….. Clean stores, well stocked, fair prices – that gets a smile.
Well said. It’s waaaaaaay more important that customers leave with a smile than receive a mandated grin while in the store. I’ve always found Target staff memebers to be focused and hard working. Usually head down pushing a cart or stocking shelves. It has never once occured to me that I deserved a smile as they passed. Sure, I’m greeted every now and then. Even asked if I need any help. But I’ve thought nothing of it when they simply go on about their jobs. This was a well intended brain storm that may end up causing more anxiety than incremental sales.
I’m supportive of Target’s “10-4” policy—requiring associates to acknowledge guests within 10 feet and actively greet them within 4 feet—because the principle behind it aligns with basic retail fundamentals. Organizations like Walmart have long adhered to a similar “10-foot rule” of associating proximity with visual recognition. Greeting customers is not a radical innovation—it’s an expected part of store-based retail customer service. When executed well, it can enhance the warm, human connection that helps differentiate physical retail from online.
That said, I also understand why some store employees might feel uneasy or irked. The policy can feel overly scripted, rigid, or mechanically enforced—particularly if the broader associate workload remains high and staffing is lean. If a store team feels the directive is merely a “check the box” exercise, or if non-compliance leads to punishment without context, morale can suffer. The key is that associates should view greeting a customer as a genuine part of their role—not an add-on chore. When the culture supports it and leadership models it authentically, it can feel natural rather than forced.
In practice, my advice for Target (and any retailer adopting a proximity-greeting rule) is: embed the expectation within everyday store culture, pair it with purpose (why your store team matters), and support it with staffing and training. If associates are equipped to do their jobs well and have the time to engage naturally, then the “greeting” rule becomes less about compliance and more about service excellence. The human side must come first—or even the smartest metric can backfire.
The world has collectively lost its damn mind. Target isn’t mandating smiling at every customer, Target is mandating good customer service.
Every retail sales trainer teaches this. We do. In our seminars, we call it the 7-Tile Rule: every time you come within seven floor tiles – that’s 7′ – of a customer, you must acknowledge that customer. It doesn’t matter if you start a conversation, say hello or simply smile and make eye contact. It’s the acknowledgment that counts.
Nordstrom associates have been acknowledging customers forever, and is well known for outstanding customer service. Do we get cheesed off when someone in Nordstrom looks at us, smiles and says hello? Of course not. This is just another clickbait retail tempest in a teapot.
We all agree that the concept of associates smiling at their customers is right and is not new. But to “mandate” sounds more dictatorial than well thought out. Smiling, politeness, and a desire to be helpful should have always been part of the hiring process and the subsequent, unending training that associates should receive. This move by Target sounds like a knee-jerk reaction after someone found out that associates don’t do this enough because they were not properly trained, or should not have been hired in the first place.
A genuine smile cannot be mandated; it can only be cultivated. A mandate produces an act—a forced expression of compliance—while a smile that comes ‘from the inside’ is an authentic overflow of a positive internal state. Target is being insane unless they are trying to make employee internally happy either by reward, benefit or culture of security.
While I appreciate Target’s desire to get closer to the customer, mandating smiles may not be the optimum method. How about borrowing from Sam Walton’s original greeters, “Welcome to Walmart” or Publix’s offer to carry your bags to your car?
Shouldn’t this be Day 1 training? Successful retailers have been doing this for decades (maybe more).
Brad Halverson’s comment is on TARGET.“Target leadership should instead focus on giving store employees the tools to take care of customers, solve problems, and improve customers’ shopping trips. “ When the customer asks for help, don’t point; bring them to the product. When a product is not on the shelf, go to the back room and check it out. That is what works for a customer. And yes, do it with a smile and enthusiasm.
Appreciate your comment about Day 1 training.
Time to ask – does retail executive leadership remember what its like to work on the store floor, to face customers without having ample answers or support?
Managing employee behavior is essential. The fact that we’re discussing this policy is absurd.
I think Target just hung a leper bell on their customers.
Associates overburdened by too many tasks will be dodging around corners and feigning blindness to try to get their work done. The employee can either get the whole shoe department reset by end of day as their manager demanded, plus keep it reasonably orderly, or they can interact with the lady who is unshakably convinced that the cat food brand and flavor they want, which Target shows as out of stock, is being deliberately kept “in the back room”.
For the customer, the “10-4” policy shifts the experience from passively neutral (employees are present but not highly engaged) to actively engaged, though potentially inauthentic. While some customers may enjoy the enhanced hospitality, a significant number are likely to be put off by the forced joy nature of the interactions, preferring to browse on their own terms. Now, if Target can mandate more robust decision-making in the boardroom, that would move the needle.
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Rather than mandating smiles, Target’s senior management should give associates reasons to be naturally cheerful. Unfortunately, they have completely failed at this task over recent years by overwhelming associates with work, not listening to them, and not making proper investments in stores and processes. All that said, I have found almost every associate in Target to be helpful and polite. Ultimately, Target’s woes are not down to the people in the stores – they’re down to the people in the boardroom.
No need for me to add anything. “Mandating employees to smile is insane
The Boardroom is one thing…but there are certain departments at Target that need a lot of help – toys, electronics and home goods in particular. At one point in time fast fashion was all the rage at Target and it had a cache about it. Today, it serves as a convenient place to shop and a decent price : value profile.
I think you’re right (if I interpreted you correctly): if they really want to
put this to the acid test, it’s the Board members who should be forced
to smile (tho one suspects any smiling they’ve done lately has been
either coerced…or clueless)
What if you are really lousy with spatial skills and don’t know the difference between 10 and 4 feet? Honestly, this should never have made the light of day. Every employee on the floor of a store whether big box or intimate specialty retail should be friendly to the extent of offering help or assistance. For this Christmas holiday season do shop at Target the store needs all the help it can get!
When Target operated in Canada, store teams stood out precisely because of their consistent cheerfulness. So wild how, a decade later, smiles are being mandated.
This new policy reflects traditional retail coaching for hospitality for a new generation of workers. It also suggests the employee experience and morale have changed.
OK, everything needs to be viewed in context.
When it comes to front line staff, I always say, ‘unless someone has told you otherwise, the customer is your first priority’. “Mandating” to smile isn’t the right approach … but from the time you’re hired, the expectation is that you provide the service your customers want, need and deserve. A smile? Darn right. Saying ‘hi’? It’s just a human thing to do.
Too many retailers have lost the plot … chasing every new shiny ball that comes along. The increased sales they need are already in there store. Seems silly to me that suggesting we do what is purely common sense is an actual story.
The concept is fine. The specifics – perhaps not surprisingly (since we now expect Target to do everything wrong) – seem overly rigid.
Every associate on the sales floor, in any store, should acknowledge customers in a friendly way (although avoid the dreaded “May I help you?” which triggers “No thanks, just looking”). But mandating a wave and a smile feels forced, bordering on robotic.
Target’s 10-4 policy is essentially a baseline expectation in retail; acknowledging customers consistently does improve their experience. Some of the pushback feels overstated, and if a simple greeting feels overwhelming, the role may not be the right fit.
That said, the policy only works if it’s applied with common sense. If leaders use it flexibly and with empathy rather than rigid enforcement, it can benefit both the store and the employees.
Mandating smiles is forcing someone to give a hard-to-fake, authentic facial gesture. True smiling is an outcome of something gone right, a connection made, a job well done. This mandate will backfire and make things worse.
Target leadership should instead focus on giving store employees tools to take care of customers, solve problems, and make their shopping trip better. Then in the process, yes, its OK to ask, even mandate store teams be friendly and greet customers.
Every time I read about a highly publicized effort by Target I become more concerned for the company. Mandated specific employee behavior in front of customers ensures unhappy customers. Why? Customers interact with human employees and humans understand, quite well, what behavior is appropriate for the moment. Nothing destroys the human value in a store faster than mandates like this.
How’s your day going? and 2 or 3 other over used, non genuine phrases coming to a Target store near you….. Clean stores, well stocked, fair prices – that gets a smile.
Well said. It’s waaaaaaay more important that customers leave with a smile than receive a mandated grin while in the store. I’ve always found Target staff memebers to be focused and hard working. Usually head down pushing a cart or stocking shelves. It has never once occured to me that I deserved a smile as they passed. Sure, I’m greeted every now and then. Even asked if I need any help. But I’ve thought nothing of it when they simply go on about their jobs. This was a well intended brain storm that may end up causing more anxiety than incremental sales.
I’m supportive of Target’s “10-4” policy—requiring associates to acknowledge guests within 10 feet and actively greet them within 4 feet—because the principle behind it aligns with basic retail fundamentals. Organizations like Walmart have long adhered to a similar “10-foot rule” of associating proximity with visual recognition. Greeting customers is not a radical innovation—it’s an expected part of store-based retail customer service. When executed well, it can enhance the warm, human connection that helps differentiate physical retail from online.
That said, I also understand why some store employees might feel uneasy or irked. The policy can feel overly scripted, rigid, or mechanically enforced—particularly if the broader associate workload remains high and staffing is lean. If a store team feels the directive is merely a “check the box” exercise, or if non-compliance leads to punishment without context, morale can suffer. The key is that associates should view greeting a customer as a genuine part of their role—not an add-on chore. When the culture supports it and leadership models it authentically, it can feel natural rather than forced.
In practice, my advice for Target (and any retailer adopting a proximity-greeting rule) is: embed the expectation within everyday store culture, pair it with purpose (why your store team matters), and support it with staffing and training. If associates are equipped to do their jobs well and have the time to engage naturally, then the “greeting” rule becomes less about compliance and more about service excellence. The human side must come first—or even the smartest metric can backfire.
The world has collectively lost its damn mind. Target isn’t mandating smiling at every customer, Target is mandating good customer service.
Every retail sales trainer teaches this. We do. In our seminars, we call it the 7-Tile Rule: every time you come within seven floor tiles – that’s 7′ – of a customer, you must acknowledge that customer. It doesn’t matter if you start a conversation, say hello or simply smile and make eye contact. It’s the acknowledgment that counts.
Nordstrom associates have been acknowledging customers forever, and is well known for outstanding customer service. Do we get cheesed off when someone in Nordstrom looks at us, smiles and says hello? Of course not. This is just another clickbait retail tempest in a teapot.
We all agree that the concept of associates smiling at their customers is right and is not new. But to “mandate” sounds more dictatorial than well thought out. Smiling, politeness, and a desire to be helpful should have always been part of the hiring process and the subsequent, unending training that associates should receive. This move by Target sounds like a knee-jerk reaction after someone found out that associates don’t do this enough because they were not properly trained, or should not have been hired in the first place.
A genuine smile cannot be mandated; it can only be cultivated. A mandate produces an act—a forced expression of compliance—while a smile that comes ‘from the inside’ is an authentic overflow of a positive internal state. Target is being insane unless they are trying to make employee internally happy either by reward, benefit or culture of security.
While I appreciate Target’s desire to get closer to the customer, mandating smiles may not be the optimum method. How about borrowing from Sam Walton’s original greeters, “Welcome to Walmart” or Publix’s offer to carry your bags to your car?
Shouldn’t this be Day 1 training? Successful retailers have been doing this for decades (maybe more).
Brad Halverson’s comment is on TARGET.“Target leadership should instead focus on giving store employees the tools to take care of customers, solve problems, and improve customers’ shopping trips. “ When the customer asks for help, don’t point; bring them to the product. When a product is not on the shelf, go to the back room and check it out. That is what works for a customer. And yes, do it with a smile and enthusiasm.
Appreciate your comment about Day 1 training.
Time to ask – does retail executive leadership remember what its like to work on the store floor, to face customers without having ample answers or support?
Managing employee behavior is essential. The fact that we’re discussing this policy is absurd.
I think Target just hung a leper bell on their customers.
Associates overburdened by too many tasks will be dodging around corners and feigning blindness to try to get their work done. The employee can either get the whole shoe department reset by end of day as their manager demanded, plus keep it reasonably orderly, or they can interact with the lady who is unshakably convinced that the cat food brand and flavor they want, which Target shows as out of stock, is being deliberately kept “in the back room”.
For the customer, the “10-4” policy shifts the experience from passively neutral (employees are present but not highly engaged) to actively engaged, though potentially inauthentic. While some customers may enjoy the enhanced hospitality, a significant number are likely to be put off by the forced joy nature of the interactions, preferring to browse on their own terms. Now, if Target can mandate more robust decision-making in the boardroom, that would move the needle.