Developing & engaging our people

Supporting success

Developing and retaining the right people is going to be crucial to our growth strategy. So we are continuing to build the internal structures and culture that allow our people to succeed.

In 2009 we launched our ‘talent and organisation readiness' programme. This will help make sure our people have the right skills set to manage the business through a period of growth. We are assessing those areas of the business most crucial to our strategy to define their specific goals and whether we have the structure and the talent to deliver them. Where we identify gaps, we focus on developing targeted solutions.

This may include one or more of the following:

• changing organisational structures
• revising our recruitment strategy and approach
• reviewing our retention schemes
• improving core processes such as decision-making
• focusing on culture and employee engagement
• using development and training programmes to build capability levels.

So far we have carried out four pilot programmes in China, Indonesia and Germany, and in one of our product categories. These have given us important new insights. In January 2010 we commenced these assessments in eight other business units within our key markets and categories.

Investing in learning

We have invested significantly in learning in partnership with Accenture – our HR outsourcing partner – by creating a single curriculum for General Management and Leadership Skills, supported by a One Technology infrastructure that also provides
e-learning. This capability has enabled a fast roll-out of our new 'Standards of Leadership' framework. This programme promotes a set of behaviours aimed at ensuring that every manager takes personal responsibility for delivering Unilever's strategy.

A new online tool was launched during 2008 to help ensure consistency in the way our employees’ personal development plans (PDPs) are managed across the company. In 2009 the use of this tool was extended to include a number of other areas including Multi-Source Feedback assessment for the Unilever Standards of Leadership, Professional Skills Assessment and Talent Profiles, which enable employees to update their personal profile to reflect their professional experience.

In addition, employees are also able to gain more specific training from our functional academies, such as the Marketing, Finance and Supply Chain Academies. For example, in 2008 our customer development function launched an online 'Centre of excellence' on sustainability. This provides a platform for our teams to collaborate and share good practice from in-store campaigns around the world.

Our R&D function launched a new three-day sustainability foundation course in 2008, open to all managers across the business. A complementary sustainability awareness e-learning module was developed in 2009. These courses aim to embed sustainability into our business as a means of achieving competitive advantage by teaching the three pillars of sustainability before focusing on Unilever’s key environmental metrics of greenhouse gas emissions, water, waste and sustainable sourcing. In 2009 both training courses were well attended, with a total of almost 150 participants at one of four foundation courses held in Europe, Asia, South America and the US, while 195 people registered for the e-learning course.

Employee engagement

Measuring culture change is an inexact science but we put great effort into engaging with employees to find out whether they understand the company’s vision and their role within it, what their views of Unilever are and what they believe needs to change to achieve our ambitions. In 2009 we began an employee engagement programme that will ensure employees are involved in Unilever’s vision and plans for the future.

We also gather feedback from our employees through regular employee engagement surveys. A Global People Survey (GPS) of all Unilever employees is conducted every two to three years. Unilever’s management population is also invited to participate in a refined version of the survey – 'GPS-Pulse', which is conducted at six-monthly intervals in the years when GPS is not taking place. The most recent GPS-Pulse (in September 2009) highlighted that people are proud to work for Unilever and feel good about the culture and business. Results also showed increased confidence in leadership and the direction that the company is taking. Feedback also pointed to areas where we needed to do better and these were actioned by the Unilever Executive and our senior leaders. A full Global People Survey is planned for June 2010.