Target has announced that it will be laying off hundreds of employees, a move it views as a crucial step toward turning the business around after a sustained period of difficulty.

On Thursday, the Minneapolis-based retailer sent a memo to employees in which it said that 1,000 corporate employees would be laid off, and that it would also be eliminating nearly 800 open positions—representing around eight percent of its corporate workforce.

The memo, signed by incoming CEO Michael Fiddelke, was quoted by several outlets including CNN and CNBC.

The decision follows several successive quarters of slow sales for the retailer, which has also battled backlash over its decision to roll back a number of diversity hiring initiatives earlier this year.

In a statement quoted by CNN, Target said th

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