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Running head: EXAMINING UNILEVER 0

Examining Unilever

Ailaine Grant

QNT275

June 26, 2017

University of Phoenix

Company Analysis

About the Company

Unilever is one of the leading fast-moving consumer goods organizations in the United States and all around the world. The company provides a wide range of products in areas such as personal care, nutritionally balanced foods, household care products, as well as refreshment groups. The headquarter is in London, United Kingdom, but Unilever has expanded its operations in other country such as United States, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. In 2016, Unilever indicated a revenue of EUR52713 million (Unilever, 2017) which represents a drop by 1 percent from 2015. The company’s operating margin was also 14.8 percent in comparison with an operating margin of 14.1 percent in 2015 fiscal year. Currently, the company functions as a dual-listed organization that has two parent firms, Unilever N.V and Unilever PLC. Unilever N.V is registered in England and Wales. These two firms function as a single entity. Unilever in conjunction with other group organizations, function as a single entity. Unilever is one of the world’s premier fast-moving consumer goods organizations that are known with a host of popular brands in the foods, home care, refreshments, as well as personal care product categories (Unilever, 2017). This firm operates via the above product segments. For instance, the personal care segment includes skin care and hair care commodities. They also range from deodorants to oral care goods. In 2016, Coca-Cola acquired AdeS soy beverage business from Unilever. Unilever also finalized the acquisition of Living Proof, which is an innovative premium hair care firm. Unilever was also involved in the acquisition of Blueair, which is among the leading companies that supply innovative mobile indoor air purification systems and solutions. The organization also enjoys a high international presence, with its constant expansion projects (Unilever, 2017). Its most recent expansion program was launched in South Africa. Unilever declared plans to allocate EUR75 million in South Africa to increase its capacity with new home care factory and improve the already existing sites in Durban.

Description of the Problem

Employee turnover is one of the biggest challenges that Unilever faces. A turnover event takes place when an employee voluntarily or involuntarily exits an organization or unit. There are various factors that contribute to high turnover events in Unilever. For instance, the organization often struggles to contain challenges arising from regular complaints by employees over issues such as being overworked. As soon as they are recruited, new workers do not go through real organizational induction or orientation. Therefore, they do not understand who to contact or what they are expected to be doing. As a result, highly skilled and talented workers decide to leave the organization. The degree of long-term sick leaves is high in the company. Some workers complaint that the company subjects them to long working hours and low wages. This results in an imbalance in their work-life issues. Employee turnover also affects managers and senior employees.

In as much as it is possible that a turnover occurrence might result to improved degree of job performance, this impact is more commonly negative at the collective levels. Therefore, the reason for this is that losing a member causes disruptions in their collective state and processes (Hale, Ployhart & Shepherd, 2016). The turnover event might cause disruptions in the sacred or tacit knowledge and needs members to commit extra focus to learning new knowledge regarding replacements. Moreover, turnover events often abrade the connections and social capital that are required through attaining greater levels of unified performance. Further, employee turnover occurrences often pose disruptions to normal work patterns and heighten the job applications of individuals who go on (Hale, Ployhart & Shepherd, 2016). This implies that respective conduct of employees may be overlooked as they have to accept extra obligations. Although the worker is shortly replaced with a greater quality employee, new-member socialization normally takes a long period of time and requires resources form other organizational members. This can also consume time for the replacement to gain experience on the specific job functionalities, routines, as well as branch-specific skills and knowledge.

Lack of work-family balance can also increase the level of employee turnover in an organization such as Unilever. The current changes in the distribution of families in the labor force, including more paired career teams and employed mothers with kids, have heightened the possibilities of males and female workers have significant everyday obligations besides their work (Caillier, 2016). Thus, an organization’s deficiency to retain the pace with such conflicting obligation possibly pose severe consequences for workers and firms. This is can adversely influence the spirit and satisfaction of workers, thereby increasing the organizational costs related to absenteeism, turnover, as well as recruitments. In reaction to these challenges, a company such as Unilever has the task of implementing initiatives that are explicitly arranged to help workers in their attempts to strike a harmony between work obligations and their family responsibilities (Caillier, 2016). Family-friendly initiatives are important strategies towards minimizing possible turnover rates.

Identification of Research Variable

Research Variable

The dependent variable in the research is turnover. Data from Unilever will offer valuable information about various ways in which employees exit their units, such as transfers, quits, and retirements. Other reasons will include possible termination and death. The main turnover issue that is under discussion is personal decision by the employee to quit. In this respect, the quit rates and transfer rates will form the main source of data. Voluntary turnover will form the basis of this research. This implies that other causes of turnover such as layoffs and retirements will not be included.

The independent variable that will be used for the study is long working hours. The study will attempt to explore the relationship between long working hours and employee turnover rates. Long working hours often result in work-life imbalances and increased employee dissatisfaction. In connection to that, the research will also investigate whether family-friendly initiatives such as establishment of daycare facilities reduces employee turnover.

Data Collection Methods

The study will utilize quantitative research design. This will be done by gathering quantitative data on the number of employees who have quit the organization in comparison with the programs that have been established to reduce rates of exits. Apart from quantitative design, the research will also focus on qualitative information such as employees’ feelings or perceptions towards work-life balance issues (Wolberg, 2010). The main data collection methods that will be utilized include observations, interviews, and questionnaires. Secondary statistical information will also be gathered from the company’s database on the rates of employee turnover.

Generating Validity and Reliability

In order to guarantee data reliability and validity, there are various strategies that will be employed. Validity reflects the appropriateness of the data for a defined purpose. In order to ensure validity, measures that identify opportunities for improvements and indicate actual improvements in the outcomes will be utilized. Reliability, on the other hand, refers to data constancy and consistency (Wolberg, 2010). Reliability will be enhanced by accurately and consistently identifying the occurrences that are designed to identify the events that they are meant to identify across multiple organizational settings. Face validity will also be assessed by ensuring that organizational members are able to effectively review or define the data elements and operational definitions of such elements so as to guarantee correctness, completeness, and understandability.

References

Caillier, J. G. (2016). Does satisfaction with family-friendly programs reduce turnover? A panel

study conducted in US Federal Agencies. Public Personnel Management, 45(3), 284-307.

Hale, D., Ployhart, R. E., & Shepherd, W. (2016). A two-phase longitudinal model of a turnover

event: Disruption, recovery rates, and moderators of collective performance. Academy of

Management Journal, 59(3), 906-929.

Unilever. (2017). Unilever, Marketline, 1-40.

Wolberg, J. (2010). Designing quantitative experiments: prediction analysis. New York:

Springer Science & Business Media.