Unilever 2008 Annual Report Download - page 26

About Unilever continued
Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2008 23
Report of the Directors
Savoury, dressings and spreads includes soups, bouillons, sauces,
snacks, mayonnaise, salad dressings, margarines, spreads and
cooking products such as liquid margarines, and some frozen
foods. Our key brands here are Knorr, Hellmann’s, Becel/Flora
(Healthy Heart), Rama/Blue Band (Family Goodness), Calvé, Wish-
Bone, Amora, Ragú and Bertolli.
Ice cream and beverages includes ice cream sold under the
international Heartbrand, including Cornetto, Magnum, Carte
d’Or and Solero, Wall’s, Kibon, Algida and Ola. Our portfolio also
includes Ben & Jerry’s, Breyers, Klondike and Popsicle. This
category also includes tea-based beverages, where our principal
brands are Lipton, Brooke Bond and PG tips, as well as weight
management products, principally Slim•Fast, and nutritionally
enhanced products sold in developing markets, including
Annapurna and AdeS.
Within these groups, we also include sales of Unilever
Foodsolutions, which is a global food service business providing
solutions for professional chefs and caterers.
In personal care, six global brands are the core of our business in
the mass skin care, daily hair care and deodorants product areas –
Dove, Lux, Rexona (including Sure and Degree), Sunsilk (including
Seda/Sedal), Axe/Lynx and Pond’s. Other important brands include
Suave, Clear, Lifebuoy and Vaseline, together with Signal and
Close Up in oral care.
Our home care ranges include laundry products, such as tablets,
traditional powders and liquids for washing clothing by hand or
machine. Tailored products including soap bars are available for
lower-income consumers. Our brands include Omo (‘Dirt is Good’
platform), Surf, Comfort, Radiant and Skip. Our household care
products include surface cleaners and bleach, sold under the Cif,
Domestos and Sun/Sunlight brands.
Please refer also to pages 9 to 11 where we give many examples
of the ways in which our brand portfolio is being actively
managed in support of our Vitality agenda.
Our employees
We believe in providing an environment where individuals can
achieve their goals, both professionally and personally. In order to
attract and retain the best people, we recognise the need to offer
them ways to take advantage of opportunities, room to succeed
and grow, and more directions in which to pursue their careers.
Our success depends on innovation, so we do everything we can
to ensure that the enterprising people we employ have the
freedom to act. We give them all the support and encouragement
they need. At the same time, we empower them to make tough
decisions, implement new ideas and use their initiative. As a result
our people have a passion for achievement, strive for outstanding
results and are determined to get things done.
We believe in everyone’s ability to develop and grow and that life
at work should be a continuous learning journey and that we all
have an equal right to take advantage of the opportunity to
develop ourselves. In our view seizing the opportunity to make a
difference is more important than simply progressing up the
ladder.
Personal vitality is also something we feel strongly about and we
have programmes and activities in place which are designed to
help everyone in the business take care of themselves and
encourage a better quality of life. By creating a vitalising work
experience and environment for our people we help them feel
energised and able to perform to the very best of their ability.
We have created an inclusive environment where people can
bring their whole self to work; they do not have to change to fit
in. We want people to be themselves. This drives a higher level of
engagement and, as a direct result, improves all-round
performance.
The fact that everyone is unique and has different interests
outside of the office has a positive impact on the way we work
and on our culture. Understanding other people's perspectives
and learning from them adds variety and enriches what we do.
On page 13 we have given some examples of the ways in which
we promote vitality in our people and in our ways of working.
Our total employee numbers over the last five years were as
follows:
Year end in thousands 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
Western Europe 30 34 36 41 44
The Americas 42 43 45 47 47
Asia Africa CEE 102 97 98 118 132
Total 174 174 179 206 223
Numbers for prior years have been restated following the change
in our regional organisation during 2008.
Diversity
Diversity in Unilever is about inclusion, embracing differences,
creating possibilities and growing together for better business
performance. We embrace diversity in our workforce: this means
giving full and fair consideration to all applicants and continuing
development to all employees regardless of gender, nationality,
race, creed, disability, style or sexuality. Diversity plays a vital role
in ensuring we understand consumers’ needs.
The commitment to diversity is set right at the top of our
business. It is driven by the Global Diversity Board, chaired
throughout 2008 by former Group Chief Executive Patrick
Cescau, who has emphasised that ‘diversity is critical to our
business competitiveness and long-term sustainability’.