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It is commonly held that the greatest impact on culture is leadership, so with that in mind, we went straight to the top.
Answers from the ChairmanRecently we asked students to draw up a list of key questions they wanted answered by our Chairman to help understand Unilever better. Only then could they start to see if Unilever matched their ideals and would be somewhere they wanted to work.
Two things really struck me. I really liked the people I met and Unilever’s reputation to provide me with training and early responsibility.
Only come if you want the personal challenge of contributing to the company growing and winning in the market place. We want graduates who want to be leaders as well as team players, who want to learn, who want to work with integrity and humility.
Be yourself, don’t pretend or leave a part of you behind when you come through the door in the morning. Grab every opportunity to learn and if you are not learning find a way to put yourself into a task where you are.
We have a regional office in Singapore and head offices in London and Rotterdam. We have the great combination of implementing global brand mixes with local execution and some local brand development. All functions are present here with 6 factories.
We have to be responsible in every aspect of the way we do business and we spell this out in our Code of Business Principles. These principles are non negotiable if you want to work for us and range from our commitment to human rights, ensuring that our employees work in a safe environment, that our business dealings are always done with integrity, reducing our impact on the environment and the list goes on. More than this we have specific programmes in Australasia, which are about giving a hand up to the communities we live in. These focus on nutrition, education and the environment. Our flagship cause is Reading for Life, where our employees get directly involved for a full semester to help a child through a structured reading support programme. This is done in partnership with local schools and a not for profit organisation called Learning Links. We want to build this up with other companies so that by 2010 we will have helped 10,000. We have the World of Work to help people who deem themselves to be unemployable by offering them 3 months work experience and training to help them get work. With more space I would go on to tell you about what we do with Camp Quality environment and nutrition. In short I am really proud of the contribution we make.
Our involvement with our local community and global inititives I feel set us apart. Also, that we have not shouted this from the roof tops to try and get commercial gain from our contribution to society. Secondly, it has to be the people. I have always felt very comfortable with Unilever people wherever in the world I have worked. I enjoy working with my colleagues and know that we share similar values. I know that we put the welfare and interests of our employees alongside those of the shareholder and that we do treat people fairly. Lastly, it is our brands and the great feeling I get when I go round the supermarket and see our products on the shelves and see them being bought and used. I am very proud of our products.
Year after year we do some great innovation and in the last 12 months we have seen a great new additions to our range of deodorants for Rexona, Impulse and Lynx. Including the variants that do not leave any white marks on our clothes. All supported by some compelling advertising. We have launched a great Pro-age range from Dove. Our Lux and Lynx shower gels and body washes have grown fantastically. Omo Small and Mighty has added a new dimension to the laundry market. One of our most successful innovations is Lipton Ice Tea which is finding its own unique way into the repertoire of soft drinks we enjoy. Magnum has continued to evolve with Magnum Ecuador Dark now in the market. Innovation is the lifeblood of the business not just in terms of products but also the way we do business. We need graduates who are prepared to be creative, to constructively challenge our way of doing things and constantly think of new ways to win in the market. Our internal people survey tells us that our people do feel safe in challenging the way we do things, if there is a barrier I think it is the speed with which we turn thought, into plan into action. We need to be faster.
Our challenge is the same locally and globally, how to grow the business! We have done a great job in terms of profitability and capital efficiency as sources of shareholder value. We now need to grow our brands to deliver sustainable value. This needs creative management who are focused on working together to do what it takes to deliver real value for our consumers and customers and to do it better than the competition.
I know that Unilever knows how to deliver the profit, we need to deliver growth at 4% year in year out in Australasia.
The way our employees describe our culture is that it is a good place to work, they feel they can speak up and that they are given real responsibility, they enjoy their jobs. We need to build our culture in terms of being focussed on the market place and being prepared to be more innovative and risk taking. We do organise very specific team building training which seeks to develop us both as individuals as well as how we commit to teams and how we relate to our team members.
My main motivation is the challenge of building a plan and team that consistently wins in the market and which ultimately will succeed without me. I enjoy giving the opportunity and training to develop tomorrows leaders. Lastly, I get a real sense of satisfaction from doing the best that I can to lead in what I consider to be a responsible way.
The important thing is that the job gets done. Some jobs have to be very prescriptive of where we are and when we are at work to get the job done. Other jobs offer more flexibility which means that irregular hours, job share, 3 or 4 day weeks can be used in the design of the role. We do not have a culture of the last one out every evening gets the promotion. We promote who has the best track record and potential for the future. Every person is different and every situation has to be managed on its merits with the spirit of finding the solution which is right for the individual and the company. Our leaders need to embody and practice this spirit to get the right balance.
Unilever is a global organisation and there will always be opportunity for graduates to have an international perspective on issues. The opportunity to travel is often linked to the role and this tends to happen more at a management level, but not exclusively. Opportunities to work overseas exits through short-term attachments, usually for those with less than 5 years experience. Longer-term expatriation is more common amongst management. Notwithstanding this, Unilever has a Global Open Job posting system where all management (and some non-management) vacancies are posted and therefore “all” are able to apply. This however increases the competition for success where appointments are merit based. Opportunities for travel and work overseas will always exist in Unilever, it is up to individuals to take and earn these opportunities!
