Article: Best Employer 2.0, Hindustan Unilever Ltd.

Employer Branding

Best Employer 2.0, Hindustan Unilever Ltd.

Culture is a very important dimension of the organization, a culture that is action-oriented and solution-oriented
Best Employer 2.0, Hindustan Unilever Ltd.
 

Hindustan Unilever Limited, Industry: FMCG Year of Incorporation 
in India: 1933, Total number of Employees: Over 16,000, HQ City: Mumbai

 

One of the core areas of HUL's talent focus is the creation of great jobs and inculcating responsibilities at an early age

 

The company is a multinational, has a heritage of over 80 years in India, operates in the FMCG sector and has a big portfolio of products in India. The company has shown a net profit of Rs. 2,691 crores and Rs. 3,797 crores in India in 2011-12 and 2012-13 respectively. Sustainability of business and community is a key theme for the company in how it does its business and drives its growth agenda.

BP Biddappa, ED, HR, Hindustan Unilever, said, “One of the things that we focus on is the creation of great jobs that come with inculcating great responsibilities at a very early age. It also helps people develop the independence to transform their psyche. Secondly, having a great value system and a great performance culture could provide the hardware for the job but if it is not linked to the culture, then there will be a mismatch. You will be respected because of the professionalism you bring in and decisions are taken solely on merit.”

“Thirdly, we have a set of agile work practices that recognizes that people work differently and we should be geared towards providing a better work environment and allows them to work to best of their ability be it having a crèche, debates in office or even changing the shape of the office,” he added. “Through Career by Choice, women with more than two years of relevant prior work experience can work flexibly with the company, on live business projects ranging from six months to a year. The fourth thing is growth and capability building. Of course, through the normal course of being in an organization, you would be growing through promotion etc., but with our learning programs you would be able to develop the capability to sustain your performance.”

High performance culture – At HUL, the organization aims at providing clarity of goals and what is expected of each individual. Fair objectives, training, ratings and individual capability cards provide employees with a clear picture of where they stand on the basis of their performance and potential and they are provided with clear career progression paths. It advocates agile working – an approach to working with maximum flexibility and minimum constraints. Hence, all employees, are encouraged to work anytime or from anywhere as long as business needs are fully met and performance is determined by results, not ‘time’ or ‘attendance’. The company has many initiatives that support fun, agility and work-life balance of employees, which helps employees form collaborative interest.

Culture is a very important dimension of the organization, a culture that is action-oriented and solution-oriented: A culture where people find solutions and don’t blame each other and an escalation system that keeps all communication transparent.

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Topics: Employer Branding, #BestPractices, #HRIndustry

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