1. In many roles, the amount of work and hours required is overwhelming. Headcount is always being reduced, but the work required is always increasing.
2. Unilever’s compassion does not extend to its employees. In some areas, layoffs and restructuring are constant. Employee turnover is high, for example, in Unilever’s global business services, 80% of the management team has left in the past 6 months. Most of next level of the organization is being laid off as their roles are eliminated or shifted to low cost countries.
3. Pay is average, bonuses are decreasing, and the company continues to cut benefits. Almost all the offices are open seating, so the work environment is noisy and frequently filthy.
4. Unilever has a huge amount of outsourcing, offshoring, contractors, and consultants. In some areas, the shadow organization is so strong, Unilever has lost control of the company.
5. Management knee jerk reacts to every consultancy recommendation. Lately, they are all running around worried about travel costs and colored printing instead of the structural defects in their business model. The board is invisible.
6. Unilever moves slowly, it takes forever to make a decision (if it ever even gets made). Processes are complex and brittle, and everything being outsourced makes it more difficult to get even the simplest thing accomplished.
7. Unilever relentlessly markets their “save the world” mission to employees, with an equally strong message of "save money wherever, however possible." Customers and consumers are an after thought.
8. Unilever discriminates against anyone who doesn't meet the current correct "identity." If you are in the developed world or white or male or over 40, expect to be laid off.
