Unilever reviews

4.0

80% would recommend to a friend

(11,398 total reviews)

Hein Schumacher

65% approve of CEO

63% positive business outlook

Unilever has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 11,398 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Unilever employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

11K reviews
2.0
May 10, 2020

No longer the company I joined.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great career progression through the UFLP, though there are complaints that progression to management is constrained to those who are in the program. Not 100% true, but certainly the perception. Fantastic 401(k) match Generally great coworkers - high trust in direct line management, though very low trust in top-level leadership with respect to employee development and wellbeing. Commitment to using 100% PCR in their packaging, which is cool. Also great work streams in using diverse suppliers (women-owned, POC, etc.)

Cons

My time with Unilever is a tale of two parts - before the Kraft bid, and after. Before, Unilever was an incredible place to work. I looked forward to going to work each day. After the bid, extreme cost cutting measures were put in place. At first this was not done at the expense of employees, but shareholders are quite greedy - especially when UL can’t clock in more than 2% growth in North America. If you can’t put up the numbers on the top line, you best believe shareholders will demand it come from the bottom. Almost half of my 4-year tenure was spent double or triple hatting due to the company hiring freezes, the end of which was always a mystery due to VP-level’s opaque leadership style. No transparency. Just demands to root cause every small hit to customer service that occurs. If you love pointing fingers and root causing every aspect of your existence, then Unilever supply chain is a great career choice for you. Depressing office. All desks are “hot desks” so that there is no personal touch whatsoever since no personal affects can be left overnight. EC’s Culture is bleak, and will get worse when they cram Logisitics in with Planning after closing the Shelton office and outsourcing Customer Service to a subpar 3rd party in India. Marketing will 100% use supply chain as their scapegoat as to why they can’t grow their brands, so have fun in any cross functional arguments—I mean—workstreams.

1.0
Aug 24, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Beautiful workspace, free ice cream, great perks, some people are genuinely good people (though many of the best have left)

Cons

The leadership is horrible! They talk about "Every Voice Matters" but it's totally fake from the top down. They don't care about diversity and inclusion - it's all a numbers game. I honestly believe some of them are sociopaths, especially in HR and Legal. I personally witnessed truly abhorrent behavior and when several people complained to the legal department, they did nothing except cover it up. Shameful! 80+ hour work weeks with no relief, including weekends and holidays; very few people are set up for success. Leadership says they will help you if you come to them, but when you come to them, they do nothing except penalize you. Much of the work is ego-driven and has no value. There's a reason the rate of people of color leaving is so high - the Diversity & Inclusion program is a total joke. Favoritism is rampant. Bias runs unchecked.

avatar
Unilever Response
6y
Thank you for your feedback, we are so sorry to hear about your experience. We will ensure this is passed on to the relevant teams and that appropriate action is taken. Unilever is keen to address your specific concerns.
1.0
Nov 17, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

None. Get the work experience or Not, and get out after 1-2 years or sooner before even your First Year Anniversary. Good agile, flexible culture (if your manager will allow it). But No one has their own desk anymore since Jan. 2017 and everyone is required to work like a Nomad and carry around their desk, laptop, papers etc. in a suitcase. I'm actively searching for a new, Real Job.

Cons

You'll Get Stuck at Associate or Manager Level or Lower for Years, There are Employees who have been working there for 10+ Years and are still at Associate or Manager Level, Low Salaries, No Upward Mobility. The Shuttle Buses are a joke and worse than the MTA Subway System of NYC. I never thought that any other transportation system be worse than the MTA. The Shuttle stops are limited at 1-2 in the morning for each stop location and if you miss your Shuttle especially if they're crowded and the Shuttle Company is late sending another Shuttle or doesNot send another one at all, you're screwed. You'll miss morning meetings, work etc. which means you'll be in trouble with your boss. At least with the MTA Subways, NJ Transit or NJPath there are multiple trains every few minutes and even if there's a major delay you can exit from a station that's close enough to your destination. Additional Cons: -no career development since there are few if any openings above Associate or Manager-level -no support from Management, HR or other functions -irrational leadership (Executive Management/Middle Management/HR/Comms) - stay far away from them!!!! The turnover rate of employee is staggering Get in, get the experience, and get out. Do not stay as they will string you along with implications of promotion and recognition, but you will lose a lot of your earning potential in this time period. The salaries are also low in addition to the absurd joke of 1-3% Bonuses of Base Salary. Unilever also has lofty goals such as using technology, AI, etc.. Unilever is destitute, has razor thin profit margins and can Not afford even $3000 laptops per employee, Meeting Rooms’ Monitors for Presentations or competent Tech Support. In general, Unilever’s “Technology”, software, systems etc. are 10 years old and Unilever is stuck in the first decade of the 21st Century. It’s a Dead-end company with Dead-end jobs. I could go on and on, but Unilever’s Not worth it to write an Encyclopedia about that’s why I’m actively searching for a Real Job!

Viewing 7 - 9 of 11,398 Reviews

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