Diversity

Global diversity

We embrace diversity in our workforce. This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants and continuing development of all employees regardless of gender, nationality, race, creed, disability, style or sexuality. Diversity plays a vital role in ensuring we can connect with the widest range of consumers.

In 2009, Unilever articulated its new 12-point Compass strategy that incorporates an ‘organisation and diverse talent pipeline ready to meet our growth ambitions’ as one of its key points.

Our commitment to diversity is set right at the top of our business with our Global Diversity Board. Established in 2009, the Board comprises senior executives from across the business and is chaired by Chief Executive Officer Paul Polman. With the remit to set direction for the diversity agenda, the Board meets quarterly to review strategy and actions.

A proactive plan to enhance diversity

We work to embed diversity firmly into our day-to-day business decisions, via our talent management and people processes. Our business units are required to develop specific diversity plans that are aligned to the priorities and needs of their regions and product categories.

In 2009 we introduced six enablers to be implemented across our business units. These are to attract, retain and develop diverse talent at Unilever. They are:

• accountability – clear targets and global scorecards for all regions
• mentoring – implementing local schemes to support the development of diverse talent
• networks – establishing networks in each business unit to focus on and support diversity
• flexible working – implementing flexible working programmes wherever possible
• career planning – with a focus on diversity
• culture – embedding the importance of diversity and inclusion in leadership programmes.

In February 2011, we had six nationalities represented on our Unilever Executive, five nationalities on the Board of Directors, 20 in our top tier management and more than 100 nationalities worldwide. This combination delivers a wealth of experience in developing and emerging markets, countries that are critical to our success.

Focus on gender

Women make up more than 75% of our consumer base. Our workforce must take account of this. We have put a particular spotlight on this issue and it forms one of the business goals of our Chief Executive Officer Paul Polman.

Our six enablers, described above, will help us to increase the number of women at all levels of the business.

We monitor our performance and global results are reported every three months for review by Paul Polman and the Global Diversity Board.

We are already seeing good results, with some improvements in the number of women in senior positions and the overall diversity of future talent. The number of women in senior positions increased from 23% in 2007 to 27% at the end of 2010.

Mentoring

Our formal mentoring programme has expanded since its launch in 2009. Mentoring relationships provide ongoing feedback and advice on career progression and personal development plans and can play a key role in helping individuals achieve their full potential. We have seen successes in the form of promotions for employees who have participated in the programme. The programme is run globally for senior employees and has been rolled our locally for middle and junior level positions in individual business units.

Networks

Networks provide valuable opportunities for personal and professional growth, building relationships and interacting with role models and mentors for diverse talent. Unilever has made significant progress on building networks in 2010. Several networks are present across the Americas, Western Europe and Asia, Africa and Central & Eastern Europe regions. North America runs five networks including the Hispanic Business Network, African American Business Network, Women’s Interactive Network, Asian Business Council and Global PRIDE. In 2010 new networks were launched in Brazil, UK, Ireland, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China and Europe.

Agile & flexible working

Our aim is to create a working environment supportive of family life. One of the ways we do this is through non-conventional career paths and flexible working arrangements, such as job-sharing, flexible or reduced hours and home working. In some countries such as Italy, our business is developing partnerships with childcare service providers to support parents in their transition back to work.

We also support employees who decide to take a career break, whether a sabbatical or paternity/maternity leave. This ‘stepping off’ the career ladder is seen by Unilever as merely a postponement of progression and not a cancellation of progression. Leave arrangements differ from country to country, depending on local legislation. Read more on agile working in the Green IT & workplace impacts section.

Diversity awareness

To achieve real change in attitudes and approaches to managing diversity within the business, people need to understand why it is important to our success. During 2010 we launched a range of initiatives to raise levels of awareness and understanding. In our North American business more than 70% of the business is trained in diversity issues. Diversity awareness sessions were also carried out in India, the UK and Ireland and in our corporate headquarters.

Feedback from our employees

Results from our Global People Survey in 2010 were encouraging:

• 88% of managers believe they are treated with respect and dignity

• 71% of managers believe that Unilever has a work environment which values diverse perspectives

• 77% of managers feel they are treated fairly regardless of their background.

External recognition

Our Chief Executive Officer Paul Polman received the 2010 Jackie Robinson ‘ROBIE’ Achievements in Industry award at a ceremony in March 2010. The commendation recognised the leading role Unilever has played in diversity and community service in the US and around the world by offering scholarships and job opportunities to minority students.

The Harvard Business Review, September 2010 edition, cited Unilever’s global mentoring programme as an example of how things should be done. The article, entitled “Why men still get more promotions than women”, explored the difference between the traditional approach to mentoring and a new ‘sponsorship’ style.

In October 2010, our Chief R&D Officer Genevieve Berger was ranked number 30 in the international edition of Fortune magazine’s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business.

In 2010, Unilever US earned a spot on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index with a top score of 100% for the fourth consecutive year.