Our people | Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)

Key highlights

HUL nurtures an inclusive workplace where talent flourishes, innovation thrives and careers are built. Our people are our biggest asset and sit at the heart of everything we do. We believe sustainable and inclusive growth can only be achieved in an organisation which focuses on a performance culture and where employees are engaged and empowered.

93%

of our employees feel proud to work at HUL^*

Zero

fatalities in 2024-25

45%

of our shop floor workforce is now skilled

20+

equitable work policies

Best

organisation for Women^{^}

^*UniVoice employee survey score 2024

^{^}Economic Times, 2024

At HUL, we believe in offering people big and exciting jobs they can be passionate about. Through this, they build a better business for a better world. We do this by creating impactful opportunities early in their careers, making our people strong end-to-end leaders who inspire their teams and lead for impact. All of this whilst nurturing a diverse & inclusive workplace for people to be the best they can be.

BP Biddappa

Executive Director and Chief People, Transformation and Sustainability Officer

Our winning culture

Our ambition of unlocking the aspirations of a billion Indians is underpinned by our winning culture, brought to life by our New Unilever Behaviours. Through these behaviours, our goal is to not only amplify what we already do well but to also identify areas where we can grow and succeed as an organisation.

Care deeply

We care about how consumers experience our brands, the growth and development of our people and their impact on the planet. We emphasise the importance of performance and care.
Focus on what counts

We prioritise what truly matters, setting clear and stretching goals. We aim to focus on fewer, bigger things that are delivered to conclusion and are being rewarded.
Stay three steps ahead

We encourage bold and creative thinking to make breakthroughs in performance. We focus on anticipating and staying ahead of consumer needs and external trends.
Deliver with excellence

The emphasis is on delivering everything we do with excellence and pace, taking personal ownership and holding each other accountable to develop breakthrough solutions & take pride in our execution.

#1
Employer of Choice across sectors*

Our flagship Unilever Future Leaders Programme (UFLP) continues to be an accelerated learning ground for many inspiring leaders across HUL and Unilever.

Driven by our ‘leaders build leaders’ philosophy, we empower people early in their careers with big responsibilities and the freedom to experiment.

Our diversified mid-career recruitment targets niche talent and builds active communities crucial for our organisational strategy and business priorities.

Along with attracting the best talent, we have continued to invest in retaining and ring-fencing our top talent with differentiated careers and rewards, resulting in a lower than industry average attrition rate.

*Based on brand perception study by InsideIIM at target Business schools in 2024

Safety and wellbeing for all

Our strong safety culture goes beyond rules, valuing and protecting employees, boosting morale and productivity.

We have established Behavioural Safety Programs and use technology to ensure employee safety at work and during commutes. This includes expanding our coverage of computer vision cameras for enhanced operational safety of our employees, deployment of Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) across buses and four wheelers at our manufacturing sites and setting up of Driver Management Centres (DMC) under our programme ‘Suraksha Sabke Saath’ for driving awareness and training sessions.

We foster an environment where employees can bring their best selves to work, supported by programmes for their physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.

Over 18,000+ employees participated in our ‘Healthier U’ program encompassing health risk assessments, health drives, on-site checkups, vaccination drives, eye check-up camps, and mental health support. Additionally, we offer resources and training for psychological safety and mental health, including Mental Health Champion (MHC) training, with over 1,000 employees trained to support colleagues in need. 

Fostering inclusivity

86% of our employees believe that HUL has a work environment where people of diverse backgrounds can thrive. This year we have further enhanced our 20+ equitable policies with respect to crèche facilities, secondary caregiver policy, leaves for miscarriage, adoption care and fertility cover.

Driven by our ambition to achieve women representation from the boardroom to the shop floor, today we have 42% women representation in managerial positions. Through our flagship ‘Ahilya’ programme, over 1,500 women have stepped into frontline sales roles, breaking barriers and redefining possibilities. On the shop floor, more than 1,600 women are leading the charge for change, with our Sumerpur site standing out at an inspiring 42% women representation.

We have expanded our efforts on awareness, accessibility and accommodation to champion persons with disabilities (PwDs) and scaled our pioneering Saksham program for PwDs across our units.

Our Proud network celebrated its fourth year, continuing to provide a safe and inclusive space for LGBTQI+ employees and allies. With over 200 active members, this employee network has been instrumental in enhancing psychological safety and empowering the voices of the LGBTQI+ community within and beyond the organisation.

Investing in our talent

Focusing on talent development, we strengthened frontline sales and marketing capabilities through digital interventions and continued to upskill our shop floor workforce. 83% of our employees believe that HUL provides opportunities for skill development to advance them towards a successful future.

We are proactively building a future-ready talent pool by investing over 1,00,000 hours in learning and development programs. We now have 45% of our shop floor workforce skilled, a 500 bps increase year-on-year.

With 100% advocacy, we have enabled our leaders through our 'Leading the Unilever Way' programme, providing tools to navigate key career moments and strengthen their leadership edge.

Our ongoing experimentation of adaptable employment models allows us to swiftly tap into diverse talent pools, bringing in a spectrum of skills and experiences while providing our employees with continuous opportunities for professional development. Open2U, Flex projects and U-Work continue to unlock employee efficiency and empower employees.

Key highlights

93%

Zero

45%

20+

Best

Our winning culture

Care deeply

Focus on what counts

Stay three steps ahead

Deliver with excellence

#1 Employer of Choice across sectors*