meeting everyday needs of people everywhere Annual ... - Unilever

24 Unilever Annual Review 1998 Business Overview
People
We are committed to the personal growth of all our employees.
Individual progression both creates a more fulfilling workplace and
drives the Company towards outstanding performance.
1998 saw the first full year of a major initiative designed to encourage
personal growth. Called the Integrated Approach, it is a new way of
thinking about individual career planning and professional
development. At its heart are three aims:
To give employees new opportunities to shape their progress
in Unilever
To streamline work levels to create a leaner and more flexible
organisation
To align reward and recognition processes so that we can nurture
outstanding performance and maintain our competitive position
in the remuneration market
Initially conceived as a programme for managers, the Integrated
Approach is a process we believe is important for all employees. It is
therefore being developed for everyone.
The idea of fostering personal growth stretches beyond just the
Integrated Approach. For instance, developing employee skills and
responsibilities is central to the productivity programme, Total
Productive Maintenance, which continues to bring new efficiency to
our manufacturing process. There have also been regional-based
initiatives of significance for the whole business. Our European
operation which handles Home & Personal Care products launched
a survey to quantify staff morale accurately. The results are being used
as a way to increase employee commitment and drive business success.
We believe an important way of achieving personal growth is to give
all our people early responsibility and an understanding of where
they, and the Company, are heading. Youth naturally brings an
“Employee motivation and performance both improved,
following the introduction of the Japanese management
philosophy Total Productive Maintenance in over 100
of our factories...”
Van den Bergh Foods’ Worksop factory, in the United Kingdom, was one
of 12 Unilever sites honoured in the 1998 Japanese Institute of Plant
Maintenance awards. Apart from the Unilever locations, only nine other
non-Japanese factories were placed.