Unilever plans to cut a third of all office roles in Europe by the end of next year, as the company’s new chief executive forges ahead with his plan to boost growth at the struggling consumer goods giant.
The FTSE 100 company, which is under pressure from shareholders including activist investor Nelson Peltz, told senior executives on Wednesday that as many as 3,200 roles would be cut in Europe by the end of 2025, according to details of a companywide call.
The company has about 6,000 staff across the UK and Ireland, including Dublin.
The job cuts are part of Unilever’s “productivity programme” first announced in March that include slashing as many as 7,500 roles globally. The company employs 10,000 to 11,000 office-based staff in Europe.
“The expected net impact in roles in Europe between now and the end of 2025 is in the range of 3,000 to 3,200 roles,” said Constantina Tribou, a chief human resources officer, during the video call.
The cuts would apply “primarily to office-based roles” and will not include jobs based in factories, she added.
The exact location of the job cuts across Europe is yet to be formally decided by the multinational company, whose headquarters and primary listing are both in London after abandoning its Anglo-Dutch structure in 2020. A consultation process is starting over the next few weeks with affected employees, Unilever said in a statement.
Hermann Soggeberg, chair of Unilever’s European Works Council, said almost all European office locations would be equally affected but particularly the corporate centres in London and Rotterdam.
Employees listening to the call expressed anger in the live comments system during the question-and-answer session, in which one executive suggested staff should put their energy into the business rather than dwelling on the uncertainty and anxiety.
“Instead of wasting it in the anxious thoughts, let’s put our great energy in serving our customers and consumers and really making this business great. That is what is in our control,” the executive said.
“I am honestly so disappointed if that is the view for employees – how is that acceptable?” wrote one employee.
“Complete failure to read the room and shows zero awareness of how people feel on the ground,” wrote another.
Hein Schumacher, who replaced Alan Jope as chief executive of Unilever one year ago is under pressure from shareholders, chief among them Peltz, to shake up the company and boost growth after years of lacklustre financial performance.
The company announced in March that it would hive off its ice cream division in a bid to boost growth. The Netherlands-based division – which makes up 16 per cent of groups sales and includes brands such as Ben & Jerry’s and Wall’s – was lagging behind faster-growing categories such as beauty and wellbeing.
Unilever also announced it would cut 7,500 jobs globally, without specifying where the job cuts would be carried out. Unilever employs about 128,000 people around the world.
Soggeberg said the works council, which fights for employee rights, was liaising with management on a consultation to establish where the job cuts would be carried out and to establish how to minimise the losses.
Some people who are let go could be reassigned to new roles in the ice cream business once it is spun off “in order to reduce the number of affected colleagues”, Soggeberg said.
“We will not be able to safeguard every job, but we need to safeguard every person,” he added. “It’s the biggest restructure we have seen in the last decade. This is shocking for the people.”
A Unilever spokesperson said in a statement: “In March, we announced the launch of a comprehensive productivity programme, to drive focus and growth through a leaner and more accountable organisation.”
The spokesperson added: “We recognise the significant anxiety that these proposals are causing amongst our people. We are committed to supporting everyone through these changes, as we go through the consultation process.”
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024
- Sign up for Business push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Our Inside Business podcast is published weekly – Find the latest episode here
