Management Shake-up: Unilever Plc To Lay Off 1,500 Workers

About 1,500 senior managers of Unilever Plc will lose their jobs as the company is currently under mounting pressure from a US activist investor, Nelson Peltz and other shareholders to improve its performance.

The company which has its headquarter in London, employs 149,000 people worldwide, including 6,000 in the UK and Ireland.

According to Bloomberg, Unilever’s chief executive, Alan Jope is at a crucial juncture, coming under increasing pressure to chart a new course as the company’s share price lags rivals.

Investors King gathered that senior management roles will be reduced by 15% while junior management roles will be reduced by 5%, globally. According to Jope, changes will be subject to consultation.

He however revealed that factory teams will not be impacted by these changes.

Unilever also announced changes to its organisational model to make it a simpler, more category-focused business.

“The company will move away from its current matrix structure and will be organised around five distinct Business Groups: Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care, Nutrition, and Ice Cream. Each Business Group will be fully responsible and accountable for their strategy, growth, and profit delivery globally.

“Our new organisational model has been developed over the last year and is designed to continue the step-up we are seeing in the performance of our business. Moving to five category-focused Business Groups will enable us to be more responsive to consumer and channel trends, with crystal-clear accountability for delivery. Growth remains our top priority and these changes will underpin our pursuit of this”, Jope disclosed.

Among the departing senior managers is Sunny Jain, a former Amazon.com Inc. executive who replaced Jope as president of Unilever’s beauty and personal-care arm in 2019.

Fernando Fernandez, EVP Latin America was appointed President, Beauty & Wellbeing, which includes Hair Care, Skin Care, as well as Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements, and Unilever Prestige. Fabian Garcia, President North America was also appointed President Personal Care, responsible for Skin Cleansing, Deodorants, and Oral Care.

Peter ter Kulve will continue in his role as President Home Care, responsible for Fabric Care, Home & Hygiene, and Water & Air.

The company also announced that Hanneke Faber, President Foods & Refreshment was appointed President Nutrition, which will be home to Scratch Cooking, Healthy Snacking, Functional Nutrition, Plant-Based Meat, and Food Solutions.

Matt Close, EVP Ice Cream was also appointed President Ice Cream, a Business Group in its own right.

Meanwhile, these appointments are effective from April 1, 2022.