Logo Unilever.
LONDON – Unilever plans to lay off a third of its employees in Europe by the end of 2025. This efficiency step is CEO Unilever Hein Schumacher’s strategy to drive the company’s business to continue growing.
“Currently, for the next few weeks, we will start the consultation process with employees who may be affected by the proposed changes,” said a Unilever spokesperson via email quoted by Reuters, Saturday (13/7/2024).
As planned, around 3,200 positions in the company will be cut by the end of 2025. This layoff also becomes a Unilever global strategy that will reduce 7,500 employees as announced in March 2024.
“Those affected by the efficiency in Europe between now and the end of 2025 range from 3,000 to 3,200 employees,” said Unilever’s Head of HR, Constantina Tribou.
The Head of European Worker Council Unilever, Hermann Soggeberg, said that this plan will be the largest layoff at Unilever for several decades. According to him, it is very inappropriate to mention layoffs to boost company productivity.
“Because people who have worked and been productive will now lose their livelihood,” he said.
It is known that CEO Hein Schumacher announced the layoff plan last October. He explained that this step must be taken to restore investor confidence after Unilever’s poor performance in recent years.
To restore investor confidence, Unilever has taken steps to transform its business as part of its plan to revitalize growth. In March, the company announced it would separate its ice cream business, which includes popular brands like Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s.
Portfolio manager at Oberon Investments said, from the shareholders’ point of view, a clear change of direction is needed for underperforming businesses. “The presence of an activist in the shareholder list is usually a clear indicator of that,” said Jack Martin.
He added that selling the ice cream business is a start. However, laying off a third of the employees in the coming months shows that there is still a big task to attract back the interest of shareholders.
Source: Republika
