Target employee fitness takes high-tech turn

Target Corp. is going high-tech with efforts to improve employee fitness. All 335,000 U.S. employees of Target will be offered free or subsidized wearable digital activity trackers from Fitbit Inc.



As part of the program, management will have a dashboard that can track individual employees by activities such as how many steps they take in a day. The basic FitBit Zip device will be provided free, or Target will help employees pay for a costlier FitBit wristband device.



Participating employees will be divided into teams and put into a monthlong fitness competition. The winning team can select a charity to receive a $1 million donation from Target. In addition, Target will be able to better position itself as a health-conscious company as it prepares to focus more on healthy food and merchandise as it continues its turnaround plan under CEO Brian Cornell.



In addition, presumably Target would benefit from having healthier employees who may take require less sick time and medical insurance expenses, as well as be more active during the workday. One possible issue would be concerns about employee privacy.