Unilever Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Unilever as an intern

Pros – Work/Life balance was great, good people, not a lot of bureaucracy, upper-management does an excellent and competent job

Cons – Not great at matching skill-set to task, bad at project follow-through, a lot of brainless co-workers, a lot of brash people in the NJ office, a lot of ideas and not a lot of actions

Advice to Senior Management – When I was on a co-op in 2011 we were told that Unilever strives to retain their interns. I finished my co-op and received an excellent evaluation and an offer to come back. I built my experience the next summer at different company before graduating and interviewing for a full-time position with Unilever. I didn't even make it to the second interview -- perhaps this is why the lower-level talent struggles around you! This mired my time here throughout various projects: Great ideas, no execution!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Unilever full-time for more than a year

Pros – Generally nice people, good work life balance

Cons – Don't expect honesty, everyone is so averse to offending that feedback/criticism is vague, not constructive, and sugar coated. Actions take forever to be executed and full consensus must be attained before a plan is implemented, much too bureaucratic to maneuver nimbly.

Advice to Senior Management – Be honest, direct, and unafraid of offending, which can be more helpful to the individual than pristine relationships. Conviction garners more respect than an agreeable and unobtrusive temperament.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Unilever full-time

Pros – Great pay. A lot of OT. AT times can be laid back. Fellow co workers are great as people.

Cons – Management doesn't care about the people who does all the work. In fact they take advantage of the hard workers; the there are. Fellow co workers are lazy as workers. Which puts a burden on the people willing to work. Not a team working environment. Closing down soon.

Advice to Senior Management – If this is strictly business, make it as such and stop pretending you care about the employees.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Unilever full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Competitive pay, company car, strong people in the field.

Cons – Company has changed significantly in the last few years. The internal talent in the Sales Planning and Marketing departments has weakened. The communication to the field is now always last minute, flawed and not well thought out. The expectations with your sales plan are crazy.

Company feels they can fun everything from Corporate, therefore they are getting rid of most field personnel with years of experience, strong relationships and higher salaries. The company is trying to get much younger. Used to have balance between work and personal life, but that is no longer the case. They are now all business. Could care less about their employees. Used to encourage employees to get involved with volunteer work and the community, but that is now discouraged.

Advice to Senior Management – Value your employees that you have spent years and much money training. Treat them like people, not numbers.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Unilever full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Exposure to best practice
Opportunity to work with smart people

Cons – Ultra internally competative
low growth - difficult to move up
people not as important - all about the process

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Unilever full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – Good company to work for... in the right functional area. If you work in Supply Chain, Marketing, Research and other areas that are focussed on the core business, Unilever is a great place to work. If you are interested in IT, do not work for Unilever. There are way to many layers between IT and the core business, and no recognition that IT can be valuable.

Cons – Massive outsourcing in IT over the past few years, many senior leaders in IT have left the company. Currently moving Desktop and Client to India... just when many other companies are considering bring it back.. Poor leadership and poor decision making make Unilever IT a very poor place to work. Expect to be asked to be on 6am conference calls so you can talk to Asia and Europe and 10pm calls to be on again with Asia and India.. Long hours.

Advice to Senior Management – You would not consider putting somone in charge of marketing that does not have any marketing qualifications or background.. .so why did you put somone that does not have an IT background in charge of IT. The current CIO is a finance guy, and sees nothing else in IT beyond numbers on the spreadsheet. The only 'value' in IT is what money can be saved, theres no pretence anymore of IT being part of the Unilever business.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Unilever

Pros – - Great brands, creative marketing
- Friendly, outgoing people
- Collaborative Environment
- Good benefits

Cons – - Favors fast-thinking, loud, talkative marketers. If you don't fit the mold, move on.
- Recent reorganization was poorly handled, and means more work for same pay at every level
- No work-life balance in marketing, leads to burn out

Advice to Senior Management – New performance culture and structure were clearly communicated, but executed painfully. It will create a better company long-term, but there's a lot of growing pain now.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Unilever

Pros – Very good compensation package, employees can gain good working knowledge in your specific functional area, company produces some great products both high-end and low-end pricing.

Cons – Senior management remains incompetent, communication by senior management is done poorly, company goes through reorgs every 12 months, employees have no reason to be proud to work for this company, company inability to manage people well, too many egos at senior management.

Advice to Senior Management – Value your employees, senior management is too heavy and not enough "worker bees".

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Unilever

Pros – good benefits
good mid management
Place to learn

Cons – Poor top management
Poor entry level salaries.

Advice to Senior Management – support internal promotion

Former Employee – worked at Unilever

Pros – Different research and very good place to learn a job

Cons – No opportunities to move up.

Advice to Senior Management – The supervisors shouldn't be strict and should be good listeners.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend