HR Contract With Accenture
Unilever PLC
06 June 2006
UNILEVER AWARDS HR OUTSOURCING CONTRACT
TO ACCENTURE
Unilever today announced that it has awarded its global Human Resources
outsourcing contract to Accenture. This follows the announcement in April of an
outsourcing contract to Accenture for its European IT operation, and in December
last year for its European financial transactional services to IBM.
The Human Resources contract sees Unilever outsourcing the transactional and
administrative parts of the function globally. The contract covers
transactional, administrative and HR IT systems support for activities such as
recruitment and resourcing, reward, training, and performance management.
The outsourcing programme is part of the company's One Unilever initiatives to
increase leverage of its scale, improve its marketplace competitiveness, deliver
functional excellence, and create a more competitive cost-structure allowing it
to focus on its consumers and customers.
Unilever intends to minimise the impact on people by transferring staff to
Accenture, early retirement, exploring alternative roles, natural attrition and
through voluntary programmes.
Unilever has a great deal of experience of managing change and, as well as
dealing with people issues sensitively and professionally, it is committed to
working closely with the relevant employee representatives and works councils.
Sandy Ogg, Unilever's chief HR officer, said: 'This global outsourcing deal
represents a major strategic choice for Unilever. We believe that it is best for
our business if we concentrate on our core competencies and transfer what is our
back office and make it into someone else's front office. We can also leverage
Accenture's capabilities and expertise. This deal allows us to create a simpler,
more agile Global HR function to better support Unilever's growth agenda.'
John Zealley, managing partner of Accenture's European Consumer Goods & Services
Practice, said: 'This agreement should help support Unilever as it strives to
transform its business.
'By outsourcing functions such as human resources to Accenture, Unilever should
benefit from increased efficiencies, decreased costs and greater global
standardization.'
-ends-
June 6 2006
About Unilever -
Unilever's mission is to add vitality to life. We meet everyday needs for
nutrition, hygiene and personal care with brands that help people feel good,
look good and get more out of life.
Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of fast moving consumer goods
with strong local roots in more than 100 countries across the globe. Its
portfolio includes some of the world's best known and most loved brands
including twelve €1 billion brands and global leadership in many categories in
which the company operates. The portfolio features brand icons such as: Knorr,
Hellmann's, Flora, Bertolli, Dove, Lux, Pond's, Lynx, Sunsilk, Persil, Cif and
Domestos.
Unilever has around 206,000 employees in approaching 100 countries and generated
annual sales of €40 billion in 2005. For more information about Unilever and its
brands, please visit www.unilever.com.
About Accenture -
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing
company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its
clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments.
With deep industry and business process expertise, broad global resources and a
proven track record, Accenture can mobilize the right people, skills and
technologies to help clients improve their performance. With more than 129,000
people in 48 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$15.55 billion
for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2005. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
Contacts
Tim Johns
VP Global Media Relations
Unilever PLC
+44 20 7822 6805
tim.johns@unilever.com
Benedict Payne
Global Media Relations
Accenture
+44 20 7844 0440
benedict.j.payne@accenture.com
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