Delivering workforce security and flexibility with Unilever

Guest Speaker

Placid Jover

Unilever’s VP HR for Latin America

The New Shape of Work interview series looks at the uncertainty companies are facing and how they are adopting new business models to increase their adaptive capability to embrace the future of work and future proof their organizations.

Workplace flexibility is high on the business agenda and, as a result, organizations are looking at adjustments to their work operating model. This has big implications for people responsible for talent management. In this episode, Placid Jover, Unilever’s VP HR for Latin America, talks about a new approach to talent management that balances the need for critical skills and workforce flexibility to help both the company and employees succeed.

Interesting moments from the interview:

Flexibility and security for employees

"We have found a gateway of creating the third way [of working] that we are calling You Work internally. We built a model, an employment model, a new type of contract that is a hybrid in between being a full time equivalent and being a gig worker. It's an employment contract that actually delivers the promise of I want security, but at the same time I want flexibility. "
Having the skills

"When you look at the world of work, demographics, and the inflow and outflow of people into the economy and out of the Labor market, it is it is evidence that just having graduate schemes, or hiring mid-career recruits from time to time, will not be enough to navigate the forthcoming skills shortages in to have the brain power that I think that all companies need to succeed and to win."
Creating opportunities

"We as a company made as part of our social commitments… related to the future of work. How do we up- and reskill our employees? How do we help 10 million young people to get into the world of work? And in how do we also create opportunities through inclusivity and at the same time pioneering new employment models?"

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