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Larissa Murmann, Chief Human Resource Officer, shares how Unilever International's purpose of serving the underserved remains at the heart of its core strategy — and the role employees play in it.
Unilever International was initially set up with the intention of catering to underserved markets. Since then, serving the underserved has become a part of its identity. Equipped with this intrinsic culture of reaching out purposefully to groups of consumers who need more support, Unilever International's employees are being inspired to do good and reach out to groups in need of more support.
Combining this with its entrepreneurial culture, the group's secret recipe is fostering a sense of empowerment; employees are empowered to view themselves as entrepreneurs and owners in the organisation. As employees perceive their roles as more than just jobs, this creates a stronger sense of fulfilment and engagement.
In this interview, Larissa Murmann, Chief Human Resource Officer, shares how Unilever International's purpose of serving the underserved remains at the heart of its core strategy.
Q Tell us about Unilever International’s approach to supporting its employees to do good while growing the business.
We take a lot of pride in our entrepreneurial culture. We’ve nurtured a positive and open environment which allows our employees the freedom to contribute their ideas to improve any aspect of our company. This could range from refining our business operations, to driving business growth, or simply doing good. We also encourage all Unilever International employees to adopt a growth mindset. This means setting bold targets, shooting for the moon, taking risks, and disrupting the status quo.
I’m particularly proud of our pilot platform, The Good Cart. We were motivated to launch The Good Cart in 2022 as we wanted to foster stronger social responsibility among our employees and consumers. We realised that amidst our busy routines, we often lose touch with our core human values like helping others. Driven by our guiding principle of “Buy good, Do good”, The Good Cart allows each customer to make a meaningful contribution to the community when they shop on our platform. With every purchase of $50 or more, a meal would be sponsored to a beneficiary in need.
Since then, The Good Cart has grown from an idea into a profitable business with a support base of over 6,000 consumers and more than 5,000 meals donated to the Food Bank in Singapore. It was an excellent proof that we can build a business model that was good for the business and for the community.
Q Where does this approach come in in your wider talent management strategy?
Fostering a sense of empowerment is our secret recipe. We empower our employees to view themselves as entrepreneurs and owners in our organisation. This is centred on our belief that when individuals perceive their roles as more than just jobs, but as a conscious life choice, it contributes to a stronger sense of fulfilment and engagement. This unlocks the full potential of our employees and creates a workplace where they thrive. We believe this is a strong factor in why Unilever International is one of the fastest-growing business units in Unilever.
We instill in our employees the belief that everything is possible and achievable, along with the idea that working together as a team gives us unique capabilities. We do things more efficiently and with less bureaucracy. With this approach, we’ve been able to nurture employees who have a growth mindset, who do not fear the unknown and who enjoy taking on challenges. With these key values, our employees feel more empowered to do good.
We also prioritise giving our employees greater autonomy in their work lives through unique benefits. This includes Focus Fridays, where we have no meetings; UI Venturous, where everyone can work from wherever they like; and Relearn, Recharge and Reskill days, where we collectively take breaks.
Q It’s easy to talk about a concept like doing good, but to embed it as a mindset is a different story. How does Unilever International inspire employees to do good What are some examples of initiatives that Unilever International has implemented to encourage employees to do good?
Unilever International was set up with the intention of catering to underserved markets. Now, more than a decade later, this purpose of serving the underserved remains at the heart of our core strategy and has become a part of our company identity. I think this is what really inspires our employees to want to do good, our intrinsic culture of reaching out purposefully to groups of consumers who need more support.
With The Good Cart, our consumers have the opportunity to choose how they want to do good. Even with their busy schedules, they have the chance to make a difference by shopping on a purpose-driven platform. They also have more visibility on how their small action of buying goods on the platform translates to tangible donations for local communities in need.
I recently had a great chat with one of our team members who is helming The Good Cart. She opened up about what makes her job so meaningful. It’s not just about contributing to the growth of the platform; it is also about forging connections with like-minded corporate partners who share a passion for doing good. What struck me was her genuine fulfilment in her ability to serve underserved communities while growing the platform. It’s a perfect combination of aligning our company identity and having the opportunity to make a positive difference that keeps our team excited to come to work every day.
Q How are you ensuring this works in the long-term (i.e., as a sustainable approach)?
The key to making The Good Cart a reality was the emotional and psychological backing from our leadership. Our line managers and CEO were instrumental, not just in facilitating internal approvals and support, but in empowering the team with the autonomy to make decisions and lead the way. They don’t tell us what to do, they tell us to do what we think is right. That, to me, is incredibly empowering.
Q What challenges have you had to overcome/address in doing so?
Translating our pursuit of doing good into a viable business was indeed challenging at the start. This was as a direct-to-consumer (D2C) model which was a field largely unexplored for us. There was a concerted effort to get the entire team on board with the feasibility of delivering a model that could deliver a positive social outcome. However, we worked closely to invest time in understanding the intricacies of this venture. This combined effort encouraged all of us to be open-minded and eventually, we found the solutions to our problems to unlock this new channel.
Q How has this concept of doing good impacted the broader culture of Unilever International?
Across our 200+ markets around the world, our priority of supporting local communities through our sustainability and social responsibility initiatives have played a big role in key business decisions.
We have learnt how to put ourselves in the shoes of community members who need support, all while pivoting from one initiative to the other in the face of real-world challenges. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic spurred us to scale our hand sanitiser production capabilities to supply millions of Lifebuoy sanitisers, handwashes, wipes and masks to Singaporean government institutions and non-governmental organisations that faced an acute supply shortage.
Most recently, our supply chain team collaborated with The Food Bank Singapore to distribute free meals to underserved households in Singapore. Not only did we serve the community but also strengthened the team spirit and purpose of our teams.
Beyond the local scene, Unilever International’s latest Personal Care venture has been making sustainable living more commonplace. This is in line with our vision of pursuing a more ethical and purpose-driven business model. In hotels where Dove amenities are used, such as bodywash and shampoo, we have done away with single-use plastic bottles. Instead, we provide large, refillable bottles that are environmentally friendly and not only reduce our plastic footprint but also contribute to the wider sustainability goals of hotels.
Today, Unilever International serves over 100mn consumers in SMILE markets (small, island, landlocked and extreme) where we support local communities through a range of hygiene and health initiatives. In Yemen, we launched the Lifebuoy- focused campaign on World Handwashing Day which reached 60% of the population through demonstrations, educational handouts, and banners in key areas. Similarly, in Mongolia, the team used educational assets to teach students the importance of hand hygiene and empower them with good handwashing habits.
Q To end on a personal note – what's a memorable anecdote you’d like to share about, from your own experience volunteering for a cause?
Just recently in the fourth quarter of 2023, The Good Cart participated in The Food Bank Singapore’s inaugural Zero Hunger Walk. On top of our usual monetary contributions and household essentials donations, we also gathered our Unilever colleagues, friends and family to join us in the fundraising walk on a weekend morning at Pandan Reservoir. This memory really stood out for me, because beyond just contributing to our beneficiaries, everyone who joined in the walk truly enjoyed the time spent together doing something meaningful. It also gave me the chance to personally meet and forge stronger bonds among like-minded individuals.
Participating in such volunteer initiatives really helps me to reinforce a sense of purpose while giving me the space to nurture my personal wellbeing. Indeed, it’s more blessed to give than to receive.
Lead image / Provided
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