BM628: Analyzing Employee Turnover Issues at Unilever - Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of employee turnover issues faced by Unilever. It begins with an introduction to Unilever, its background, and the aims of the report, which is to evaluate employee turnover problems. A literature review explores the reasons behind increasing employee turnover, including factors like lack of employee focus, insufficient training, and inadequate compensation. The review also examines ways to reduce turnover, such as corporate governance and effective management strategies, including Maslow's need theory. Furthermore, the report discusses the importance of addressing employee turnover and how it can benefit the organization. Recommendations and an action plan are presented to address the identified issues, followed by a conclusion summarizing the findings and referencing the sources used. The report highlights the significance of employee satisfaction, motivation, and retention in achieving Unilever's business objectives.

BM628-19SBLO

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
UNILEVER.................................................................................................................................1
Background..................................................................................................................................1
Aims and objectives of the report................................................................................................2
Literature Review............................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................6
Critical review...............................................................................................................................11
RECOMENDATIONS..................................................................................................................14
ACTION PLAN.............................................................................................................................15
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................18

INTRODUCTION
UNILEVER
This is a submissive report on Unilever which will have a brief information about all the
issues and problems faced by the company. Unilever is the multinational organization which is
based in UK and was established in 1929. The company provides consumers goods to more than
190 countries and that includes food, beverages which are used by the consumers in their daily
use in their household routines, the company have made its place in the Europe as the seven most
larget company and by helping the nations with their services and proving good services to their
services. The company have more than 400 subsidiaries which receives a large amount of
revenues from them and expand the company more rapidly. The company have divided their
products in four segments which are beauty care, food, home care and beverages which help the
company t increase the product differentiation and increase the sales as it attracts more
consumers. The company have also invested a lot on research and development to increase the
efficiency f the product and innovate the products so that the company can also get a competitive
advantage to increase the profits margins.
Background
Unilever company was established in 1929 with a collaboration of dutch companies and
British companies which made soaps and oils in the early 20s . The company's focus was on the
making the better quality soaps and oils so that they can increase the product efficiency and
attract the consumers to the company. The company gradually laid their foundation in the
international markets by finding the right strategy and making the product more open to use the
product what the company is offering to the consumers. As the company also made many new
products according to the needs and desires of the market to increase the sales of the company as
the company focuses on the customer satisfaction and increase in the customers' loyalty towards
the company. The company's legal structure is distributed In the two headquarters one in
London,UK and other in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The company have to design a logo which
projects a better vision about the company and also provide a better resemblance to the
company's name and in 1930 the logo of Unilever was made in the sans-serif font . Later the logo
was changed and also depicted all the brands which Unilever possess in the big U logo of the
company. The company was also criticized for their process of making the palm oils as there was
a serious allegation on the company they are promoting deforestation by cutting the palm trees
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and making revenues out of it, that had also resulted in many ecological imbalances and it also
made some country's the largest carbon producing country in the world because of high number
of deforestation in the country and high number of palm tree plantation which degraded the land.
Aims and objectives of the report
There are many factors which can impact the productivity of the company. This study
aims at evaluation of high employee turnover problems faced by Unilever.
Objectives
The main objectives of this study are
 to identify reasons behind increasing employee turnover
 to identify importance of employee turnover issue within organizations
 to recommend ways through which employee turnover can be reduced
Issue
Employee turnover is one of the most important issue that Unilever was facing. There were
various reasons because of which they were facing such kind of issues. First was that they did
not focus upon their employees and their needs because of which employees’ motivational level
was reducing. They replaced or transferred huge number of employee’s fur to their unsatisfactory
performance instead of providing them with proper training. Due to these issues motivational and
satisfaction level of employees was decreasing and as a result their employee turnoer was
increasing.
Literature Review
Theme 1 Reasons behind increasing employee turnover
As per the view (Bin, 2015) There are various kinds of reasons because of which an
organization can face employee turnover. It is extremely important for a company to satisfy their
employees as it can result in increasing employment turnover. Organizations that fail to focus on
the main support of the company as that was employees generally face this issue. Many
organizations terminate their employees who are not efficient within their work as that will
increases the cost of the company. It is one of the main reasons because of which employees get
demotivated and result in increasing employee turnover. Employees who leave the company with
a valid reason like retirement or any other issues result in loss of experienced employees.
Another reason for increasing employee turnover is not focusing upon appointing the new
talented employees which can help in enhancing business and because of which organization
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loose its market position gradually. The employee who are very efficient in doing their task but
the company is making them work over the time to complete their task but are not paid well
enough as per their work is another reasons because of which organization face employee
turnover reason. As this discourage the employees to work as they can not balance their work
and personal life to satisfy themselves. Many organizations do not focus upon proper supervision
on the employees and of their work which make the employees violated and for this reason they
are leaving the company. Companies many times also fail in proving career growth opportunities
which discouraged the employees to be loyal and made the employee turnover high. The
company also face the high turnover due to wrong hiring of the employees who are not right for
the job which creates the inefficiency in the organization and also is demotivated as they do not
have the proper knowledge and skills to be motivated and understand the objectives of the
company (Bin, 2015).
Theme 2 Ways to reduce employee turnover
According to (Bourgeois and et.al., 2017) There are various kinds of effective
management strategies to increase the employees' retention of the company. Companies can
focus on the corporate governance as it is the main structure of the company and help the
employees to increase the effectiveness. Organizations should consult with the broad members
and all the investors and stakeholder of the company to give the better suggestion In how to
improve the effectiveness of the company and what all strategies should be used in order to
increase the efficiency of the company. The corporate governance help to provide a better
information about all the market trends and can help in increasing overall profit margins by
improving the efficiency of the company and make them more knowledgeable and potential in
doing the work. It also helps the company to ensure that the investor will get their return on
investments and the goodwill of the company is also maintained by this manner. By making
changes in the structure of the company according to the new holding which allowed the
company to improve the management policies and increase the performance of their operations
to achieve the company's objectives and solve all the problems which are faced by the company
(Bourgeois and et.al., 2017). Corporate governance can also the investor to trust the company as
it help the company to be transparent in performing their activities and increases the trust of all
the investors and shareholders of the company. The adoption of corporate governance can help
business to increase the profits of the company which helped economic growth of the company
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with the help of new opportunities to the population of the market and very different aspects
which helped the company to succeed.
In opinion of (Basak, 2016) Companies should understand interrelationship between the
corporate governance and employee job satisfaction as it plays an important role in the growth of
the company, and they also helps in retaining employees which are very efficient in their work
and also support the decisions of company with full obedience. As the corporate governance
prove the appropriate capital for the company which the company can invest in proving the
better job satisfactions to the employees and make them loyal to the company. The corporate
governance by Unilever also provided a better understanding about all the aspects from which
the company can satisfy their employees and also make them, more efficient in doing their work.
Development of effective strategies and policies can help management to be more effective and
can work as a motivation strategy to increase the employees' satisfaction of the company. The
management can adopt Maslow's need theory in order to understand the needs of the employees
so that they can make the better methods, as needs are very important in motivating the
employees and motivation provides the satisfaction to the employee which the company can
compare with the competitive market and also get the better results from it. Corporate
governance can help the company to retain their employees. But there are many chances that the
employees can get discouraged with the corporate governance as the company if they are under
pressure to manage all the shares and deliver it on time in the share market which can make the
employee more uncomfortable in doing the job and will decrease the satisfaction of the job. Due
to high number of employees in the organization there are always a change of replacement and
transfers to different geographical location can decrease the job satisfaction of the employees.
Theme 3 Importance of employee turnover issue and ways in which it can benefit the
organization
As illustrated by(Amin and et.al., 2017) Employee turnover issue is important for
organizationa as it can allow the company to sustain within the market and upgrade their
techniques and strategies for the employees in order to increase their motivational and
satisfaction level. In order to resolve this issue organizations should focus upon enhancing their
recruitment and selection procedure to hire the right employee and also recruit the talented
people by making the right strategies and also by increasing the knowledge of the company
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(Amin and et.al., 2017). Resolving this issue can help company to increase the performance of
the employees by adopting many methods and models so that the problems of turnover reduces
and make the company more efficient. This will also help the company to make the better
employee retention strategies s that it can lower the cost of the company as hiring a new
employee will increase the cost of retaining and development. Enhancing employee retention
within organization will also help to understand all the issue and make the proper use of them to
boost the moral of the employees accordingly so that they can increase the retention of the
employees and make them loyal to the company.
As noted by (Alegre, Mas-Machuca and Berbegal-Mirabent, 2016) Organizations today
have identfied need to develop and training of the employee to make them more potential in their
work and which will also gain them better knowledge and skills. This will also help the
employees to achieve their personal goals and make them more satisfied for the job. The
company have adopted the two factor theory to increase the job satisfaction so that the company
can also increase the productivity and retain the efficient employees of the company. Two Factor
theory of motivation help the employees to increase their liking towards the company and will
eventually help in enhancing their overall motivational and satisfaction level. In this theory
organizations need to identify behavior of the employees according to their beliefs, culture,
attitude, work environment. According to the theory the there are different types of factors which
motivates and demotivates the employees and the management have to analyze these factors and
reduce the dis-satisfactory factors so that the employees can increase the satisfaction of the job
and also improve their work. Self management. The theory was also the called the Herzberg two
factor theory, which included Motivators and Hygiene factors in the organization which will help
the employees to be motivated for doing their work. As the healthy work environment help the
employees to increase the motivation and unhealthy work environment will decrease the
efficiency of the employees and the management of the company also have to analyze all the
possible ways and factors by which all the employees are motivated in a positive was with the
healthy work environment of the company. As there is the direct relation with the motivation of
the employees and the job satisfaction according to the working environment. The management
of Unilever have to use different types of motivators to increase the performance of the
employees by providing rewards, recognition, authorities, advances and also promising the future
career growth will make the employees more motivated towards their work (Alegre, Mas-
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Machuca and Berbegal-Mirabent, 2016). And the company also have to analyze the healthy work
environment by implementing the effective policy, using the effective management strategies so
to guide and control all the employees within the company.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research type
Research type is divided into two main categories: Qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative
is used when in-depth understanding of human behaviour or non-numerical data is concerned
whereas quantitative research type deals with investigation of quantitative data. For this research
study qualitative research study has been used as it has helped the researcher in answering
research question in a much better manner.
Research design
There are mainly three types of research design: descriptive, exploratory and casual.
Descriptive research design is used when frequency of something or between two variables is
required to be explained. Exploratory research design is mostly used to gain idea and insight of a
situation or problem and casual research design is used to determine cause and effect relationship
between two variables. For this study exploratory research design has been used as it will help
the researcher to gain more idea of the situation or problem.
Data collection
There are mainly two types of data collection methods first is primary data collection
method and second is secondary data collection method. Secondary is readily available data
which is mainly collected from sources such as newspapers, books, journals, articles etc.
Whereas primary data is a kind of data which is collected by researcher themselves (Sriyana,
2019). It can be collected in number of ways such as survey, interview etc. For this research
study both primary and secondary data has been used. Primary data will be collected from
employees of Unilever and secondary data will be collected from various articles in order to gain
insight of the situation. Both primary and secondary data usage will help in analysing the data
and achieving desired aim and objectives in a better manner.
Data analysis
Data analysis is done in two ways first is thematic and second is statistical. For this
research study thematic data analysis has been done as it is one of the most appropriate method
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through which analysis of textual data or primary information collected from interviews or
survey can be done.
Sampling
In order to perform primary data analysis, it is required to select a sample size for the
primary data analysis. There are various methods through which sample population can be
selected and for this study simple random sampling method has been chosen as in this sampling
all the chosen respondents have equal chance of participating within a study. For this study 20
employees of Unilever has participated.
Discussion
Employees are one of the most important part of an organization who help the
organization in increasing their productivity and achieve organizational aim and objectives. It is
one of the most important responsibility of an organization to retain their employees. Corporate
governance structure of an organization plays a vital role in retaining employees within the
organization as poor corporate governance structure of an organization can affect an employee’s
overall job satisfaction, motivational level etc. If corporate governance of an organization is not
proper then it can degrade their employee’s satisfaction level which can further result in increase
in employee turnover rate (Bradley and Roberts, 2015). Clear understanding of employee’s
regarding corporate governance and structure can drive satisfaction of employees and for this it
is important for organizations to focus on their employees their needs and requirement and for
this it is important for them to focus on their corporate governance and its structure. As corporate
governance is an important aspect which helps the organization to form a strong relationship
between all the stakeholders of the company like employees, managers, shareholders and many
more. All the three pillars of corporate governance are important for an organization in order to
run a successful business and retain their skills and top employees (Blair and Stout, 2017).
Unilever is facing some organizational issues such as increasing employee turnover because of
lower job satisfaction level and lower motivational level among employees. This mainly because
of poor corporate governance. Unilever mainly focus on only two pillars of corporate governance
i.e. transparency and accountability but do not focus on security. Other than this they also have
different laws, regulations and corporate governance in different countries which is affecting job
satisfaction of employees. No doubt they have internationally accepted corporate governance
principles but implementation of those principles is not done in an appropriate manner.
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Corporate governance structure of Unilever do not focus on their employees. It has been
observed that employee turnover rate within the organization is increasing due to lower
employees’ satisfaction. There are various job satisfaction theories that can be used by Unilever
in order to increase their employees job satisfaction such as two factor theory and many more.
Many employees of Unilever resigned from their jobs because of lower salaries and high
working hours as well (Jacoby, 2018). This issue can be resolved with the help of
implementation of this theory. It can be said that corporate governance and employee satisfaction
has a cause and effect relationship I.e. any changes within corporate governance or its structure
can affect motivation and satisfaction of an employees which can affect an organization’s
turnover or retention rate.
Data Analysis
Theme 1: lower employee satisfaction issue
Question 1: Do you think Unilever is facing lower employee satisfaction issue within their
organization?
Options Respondents
Highly agree 4
Agree 10
Average 1
Disagree 3
Highly disagree 2
Total 20
Figure 1 lower employee satisfaction issue
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Interpretation: From the above graph it has been analysed that 20 out of 4 employees highly
agree that Unilever is facing lower employee satisfaction issue, 10 of them agree to the question,
one of them had an average response but 3 of them do not agree that Unilever is facing lower
employee satisfaction issue and two of the highly disagreed to it. There are various factors that
have been identified due to which Unilever is facing lower employee satisfaction issue. One of
the most common factor because of which this issue was arising was improper corporate
governance factor.
Theme 2: Factors that are increasing employee turnover
Question 2: What are the factors that are increasing employee turnover in Unilever?
Options Respondents
Lower job satisfaction 15
Lower transparency level 1
Lower accountability 1
Lower security level 3
Total 20
Figure 2 Factors that are increasing employee turnover
Interpretation: From the above graph it has been analysed that 20 out of 15 employees says that
lower job satisfaction is one of the main factors which is affecting or increasing employee
turnover in Unilever. There are various reasons because of which job satisfaction level among
employees is increasing. It is becoming quite important for the organization to focus on
motivation and satisfaction of employees. One of the factors identified because of which job
satisfaction was decreasing was lower salary and high working hours.
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Theme 3: main factor of corporate governance that are not focused on
Question 3: What is the main factor of corporate governance that Unilever does not focus on?
Options Respondents
Transparency 3
Accountability 5
Security 9
No idea 4
Total 20
Figure 3 main factor of corporate governance that are not focused on
Interpretation: From the above graph it has been analysed that 20 out of 9 employees says that
security is the main factor of corporate governance which is not focused much by Unilever. This
is affecting their overall job satisfaction and motivation of the organization. This is mainly
because market pressure on employees, workload, job security etc. these factors are majorly
overlooked by Unilever. Due to this overall job satisfaction and motivation of employees is
getting affected which is further resulting in increased employee turnover. Because of this it is
becoming important for Unilever to focus on all the three pillars of corporate governance.
Theme 4: adoption of good Corporate Governance practices
 Question 4: Do you think adoption of good Corporate Governance practices in an
organization can bring any changes within an organization?
Options Respondents
Increasing Transparency and Accountability 5
10