Unilever outsources HR ops to Accenture
In a major global outsourcing deal, consumer packaged goods giant, Unilever on Wednesday announced that it had awarded a seven-year contract to Accenture for its global HR operations.
By TNN |
MUMBAI: In a major global outsourcing deal, consumer packaged goods giant, Unilever on Wednesday announced that it had awarded a seven-year contract to Accenture for its global HR operations. The IT solutions major Accenture will provide a range of HR services — from recruitment to payroll processing as well as performance management in 100 countries. The roll-out is expected to begin in a phased-manner across the Unilever world, with the first phase of implementation set to begin from the second half of ’06-09.
With this deal, Unilever joins a growing list of Fortune 100 multinationals, who are increasingly choosing to focus on a few core functions and outsource the rest. Said Sandy Ogg, chief HR officer, Unilever, “This global outsourcing deal represents a major strategic choice for Unilever. We believe that it is best for our business if we concentrate on our core competencies and transfer what is our back office and make it into someone else’s front office. We can also leverage Accenture’s capabilities and expertise. This deal allows us to create a simpler, more agile global HR function to better support Unilever’s growth agenda.”
Accenture plans to provide a bundle of services including recruitment, payroll administration, reward administration, performance management, workforce reporting, core HR administration and third party provider management services. Unilever is expected to shift a part of its 3,300 global HR staff employees to Accenture. The rest will either be moved to new roles within Unilever or opt for voluntary retirement.
In order to provide Unilever with these services, Accenture will deploy and manage critical HR software applications for the client.
In recent years, Unilever has experienced tremendous performance pressures. At one end, the growing clout of global retailers like WalMart and Tesco have gradually eroded its competitiveness and crimped margins. At the other end, Unilever has also been unable to discover new growth markets, forcing it to rationalise costs and make the global organisation a lot more lean and mean. Last year, Unilever had outsourced its financial functions across Europe to IBM in a similar seven-year deal.
In a statement by the company, the Anglo-Dutch giant said that the outsourcing programme was part of its One Unilever initiative to increase leverage scale, improve its marketplace competitiveness, deliver functional excellence, and create a more competitive cost structure, while allowing it to focus on its consumers and customers.
To help deliver these services, Accenture will also provide Unilever with a range of learning services for its employees. Accenture will create the content and find ways to deliver it through various channels such as online courses etc. The scope of the work will cover Unilever’s three geographic regions — Europe, America and Asia/AMET (Africa, Middle East and Turkey). Accenture will provide services to nearly 2,00,000 employees in more than 20 languages from its delivery centres in Bangalore, Manila, Dalian, Bucharest, Prague and Curitiba.
With this deal, Unilever joins a growing list of Fortune 100 multinationals, who are increasingly choosing to focus on a few core functions and outsource the rest. Said Sandy Ogg, chief HR officer, Unilever, “This global outsourcing deal represents a major strategic choice for Unilever. We believe that it is best for our business if we concentrate on our core competencies and transfer what is our back office and make it into someone else’s front office. We can also leverage Accenture’s capabilities and expertise. This deal allows us to create a simpler, more agile global HR function to better support Unilever’s growth agenda.”
Accenture plans to provide a bundle of services including recruitment, payroll administration, reward administration, performance management, workforce reporting, core HR administration and third party provider management services. Unilever is expected to shift a part of its 3,300 global HR staff employees to Accenture. The rest will either be moved to new roles within Unilever or opt for voluntary retirement.
In order to provide Unilever with these services, Accenture will deploy and manage critical HR software applications for the client.
In recent years, Unilever has experienced tremendous performance pressures. At one end, the growing clout of global retailers like WalMart and Tesco have gradually eroded its competitiveness and crimped margins. At the other end, Unilever has also been unable to discover new growth markets, forcing it to rationalise costs and make the global organisation a lot more lean and mean. Last year, Unilever had outsourced its financial functions across Europe to IBM in a similar seven-year deal.
In a statement by the company, the Anglo-Dutch giant said that the outsourcing programme was part of its One Unilever initiative to increase leverage scale, improve its marketplace competitiveness, deliver functional excellence, and create a more competitive cost structure, while allowing it to focus on its consumers and customers.
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To help deliver these services, Accenture will also provide Unilever with a range of learning services for its employees. Accenture will create the content and find ways to deliver it through various channels such as online courses etc. The scope of the work will cover Unilever’s three geographic regions — Europe, America and Asia/AMET (Africa, Middle East and Turkey). Accenture will provide services to nearly 2,00,000 employees in more than 20 languages from its delivery centres in Bangalore, Manila, Dalian, Bucharest, Prague and Curitiba.
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