LONDON (Reuters) – Unilever is cutting around 1,500 fewer jobs in Europe than initially planned and hiring around 1,000 employees for the ice cream division that will soon be spun off from the rest of the group, the entity’s boss told Reuters union linked to the company.
The British company has been trying to simplify its business over the past year under Chief Executive Hein Schumacher.
Before his appointment, Unilever had performed poorly for years and was criticized for allowing its portfolio of brands to grow to around 400, leaving management little time to focus on its best performers.
Continues after advertising
Some investors also said Unilever was too slow to recover margins after the pandemic and that it needed to become leaner.
Unilever announced cuts of 7,500 employees worldwide earlier this year as part of a restructuring to save around 800 million euros. The company also said it will spin off its ice cream operation, which houses brands such as Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum.
The Unilever European Works Council (UEWC) strongly criticized these decisions, saying that a realignment of the ice cream business could have been successfully managed within Unilever.
Continues after advertising
UEWC president Hermann Soggeberg told Reuters on Friday that the union had, however, reached an agreement in October with Unilever that envisages a reduction of around 1,700 jobs in Europe.
“We negotiated intensively with the company throughout the summer,” Soggeberg said.
The representative said Unilever is still making the savings it promised investors, but has managed to significantly reduce staff cuts in Europe through savings projects from 2022 to 2024 and by not hiring externally.
Continues after advertising
Soggeberg said around 1,000 additional jobs will be offered at Unilever’s European ice cream business, mainly for employees affected by staff cuts elsewhere at Unilever.
The market expects the spin-off of the ice cream business to be completed by the end of 2025.
“We remain fully on track to deliver the €800 million savings from our productivity program,” said a Unilever spokesperson.
Ricardo Bellino from Ensina
How to negotiate and persuade
Learn the art of persuasion from an elite negotiator; learn how to influence and convince people with the strategies of Ricardo Bellino, one of the biggest dealmakers in Brazil.
