Community initiatives

Our difference in the community

Our community involvement is focused around the areas of nutrition, hygiene and sustainability. Unilever aims to make a real difference by encouraging our employees to take an initiative to help others within various projects in the community.

Reading for Life

Reading for Life is a volunteer employee reading program to help primary school-age children who are having difficulty reading.

The program was developed by Unilever’s major not-for-profit partner Learning Links, after Unilever employees cited literacy as one of their greatest community and social concerns. Our goal to see 10,000 children benefit from this program by 2010 is almost complete.

Supporting our employees' community involvement

Our Grass Roots programs provide support for the many initiatives our employees are engaged with.

These community activities are usually relevant to the local community or are a passion of a group of employees at a particular site.

1. Dollar-for-dollar community fundraising - Unilever supports employees in their fundraising efforts by matching money raised for community causes or charities on a dollar-for-dollar basis. 

2. Donating time, skills & resources - Unilever encourages employees to identify community projects where ‘they can make a difference.’ The team can apply to cover the cost of materials required for the project and apply for additional leave to achieve their goal.

3. Payroll giving - At Unilever, employees have the opportunity to support charities of their choice via payroll reductions. Unilever will match their donations dollar-for-dollar. 

4. Existing volunteering - Unilever also assists employees already volunteering in their community. We will make a financial contribution to the chosen group or charity of employees who contribute more than 80 hours per annum to a voluntary service or registered charity.