Unilever Europe will Lay Off 3,200 Employees

Recently, Unilever announced that it plans to cut a third of all office roles in Europe by the end of 2025 as part of a strategy by CEO Hein Schumacher to revive growth at the consumer goods giant. This decision is aimed at streamlining the business and winning back investor confidence after years of underperformance. Schumacher, who took over last year, outlined these plans in October.

“The expected net impact in roles in Europe between now and the end of 2025 is in the range of 3,000 to 3,200 roles,” said Constantina Tribou, chief human resources officer, during the video call.

“We are now, over the next few weeks, starting the consultation process with employees who may be impacted by the proposed changes,” a Unilever spokesperson said in an email.

The cuts are part of a broader productivity programme announced in March, which included up to 7,500 layoffs globally.

“These measures mean the biggest job cuts in Unilever for decades,” said Hermann Soggeberg, the head of Unilever’s European Works Council, in a letter to staff. He criticized the term “Productivity Programme,” arguing that it misrepresented the impact on employees who had been productive and were now facing job losses.

According to Unilever’s financial report, as of the end of 2023, the company had up to 128,000 employees worldwide. This includes approximately 26,000 employees in Europe, 38,000 in the Americas, and around 64,000 in the Asia-Pacific and Africa regions. In 2023, Unilever’s employee costs amounted to 6.873 billion euros.

In 2023, Unilever’s underlying sales growth was 7%, with total revenue reaching 59.6 billion euros, a year-on-year decrease of 0.8%. Operating profit was 9.8 billion euros, a year-on-year decrease of 9.3%.