In the run up to our annual First Women Awards, were once again opening up the vote for Business of the Year to the readership. The 2016 shortlist consists of five companies Sky, A.T. Kearney, Dell, Unilever and Sodexo which have been put under the microscope to unveil how each went beyond statutory requirements to develop a female workforce.
To make the ultimate decision easier, Real Business interviewed a senior decision maker at each company with Unilever being one of the first to hit the spotlight.
When Unilever initiated the process to mould itself into a more agile and diverse organisation in 2010. Achieving gender balance throughout the business was at the top of its agenda.
Six years later the consumer goods giant is still reaping the rewards of its labour with a significant uplift in the number of female recruits and promotions. Figures from 2015 tally up to 45 per cent women in management while the proportion of female vice-presidents has gone from 17 to 28 per cent and senior vice-president positions now comprise 22.5 per cent women, up from nine.
The company is steaming ahead to reach its target 50/50 gender balance at all levels. Within its scope of activity, Unilever is accelerating the growth of women in leadership internally, and creating expansion opportunities for its supply and distribution network.
?[Unilever] contributes to the economic well-being of many communities through employment, training and our value chain,” says Leena Nair, the recently instated chief human resources officer. In developing and emerging markets we have an even greater impact. Our supplier and distribution networks involve millions of smallholder farmers, distributors and retailers, many of whom are women.
Read our other four Business of the Year profiles:
Under its Sustainable Living Plan, the organisation has pledged to empower five million women in its network through advancement opportunities within the company, advocating for safety, and by facilitating skills development and expansion in the value chain. It has set a deadline to achieve its goals by 2020.
Have a look at the full First Women Awards 2016 shortlist
“Supporting women in our value chain is part of helping us secure high quality, stable supplies of agricultural raw materials and new routes to market,” says Leena Nair, the recently instated chief human resources officer.
In order to achieve its lofty ambitions Unilever has created a repeatable model which prioritises: sustained leadership accountability and awareness building; clear targets and measurement; programmes to recruit, retain and develop female talent; internal and external communications and engagement and; a network of diversity and inclusion champions.
Under these umbrellas the Global Diversity Champions (GDC) network was formed in 2010 as a recourse to strengthen the structure and governance of Unilever’s diversity work.
The objective is to strengthen collaboration across geographies and drive cohesive diversity and inclusion (D&I) efforts,” Nair says. “The GDC network has been instrumental in implementing the D&I priorities in different local settings and it plays an advisory role for the global diversity team.
Read on to find out how Unilever plans to develop a strong pipeline of talent.
THE POLL IS NOW CLOSED RESULTS WILL BE REVEALED AT THE FIRST WOMEN AWARDS ON 22 JUNE.
Unilever is hoping to develop and secure a strong pipeline of talent for the future through its global mentoring programme and by accelerating the readiness of high-potential women for senior leadership positions.
“All our senior leaders including chief executive Paul Polman and his executive leadership team mentor top women who are at least 18 months away from their next lateral move or promotion,” she explains.
In addition to mentorship schemes, Unilever’s Agile Working initiative provides tools such as video conferencing and other technical resources that enable employees, especially women, to work flexibly. Furthermore, the organisation runs an online maternity and paternity support platform (MAPS) to assists new parents.
Nair says: “This unique online portal equips future and new parents with a suite of tools to manage the changes in their lives and provides tips on excelling in their new dual roles in the workplace and at home”.
As she takes the helm of HR Nair explains her vision for the department, where she sees HR as the crucial differentiator that will help Unilever achieve continued success in the market place. Nair has identified four key areas that will help to navigate Unilever’s diversity and empowerment objectives in the coming years.
?[Unilever] will adopt a holistic approach to evaluate the wellbeing of the all employees, integrating areas such as careers, health, finances. Thriving women including various demographic groups and employee experience becomes the unit of analysis for D&I.
The second area concerns managing talent in a global environment. Nair says: There has been substantial changes in the movement of people around the work globally. Reinforcing core diversity and inclusion values and building cultural competence is key.
The third area will build on the companys aim to empower women while engaging men. Unilever wants to reclaim gender diversity without excluding men and representing both men and women. Finally, Unilever plans to expand its agile working initiative to move beyond flexible working and incorporate practices that truly address the needs of both genders.
“While the business has been doing well, the environment has been challenging and will continue to be so in the foreseeable future,” Nair says. “Unilever will need to be at its best in every aspect of its functioning and HR will ensure that it helps power the organisations success by not just bringing in the right people into the right jobs but also in harnessing the powerful enablers of digital and analytics and Unilevers purpose driven culture to achieve exponential growth.”
THE POLL IS NOW CLOSED RESULTS WILL BE REVEALED AT THE FIRST WOMEN AWARDS ON 22 JUNE.
