Cut Operational Costs, Unilever Will Lay Off 7,500 Employees

Illustration (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

JAKARTA - A multinational company that produces consumer goods, Unilever, will terminate employment (PHK) on 7,500 workers globally.

This effort was taken by the company in order to save the company's operational costs.

Quoted from The Guardian, employee pruning will be carried out by the ice cream division. In addition, the company will also take corporate action by separating ice cream products as independent products.

Still citing the same source, the number of employee reductions is 5 percent of the total global employees reaching 128,000 people worldwide. Most likely this mass layoff will focus on Unilever's head office in London, and some in business units in other countries.

Through this efficiency, the company is estimated to save around 800 million euros or equivalent to Rp13.68 trillion (assuming an exchange rate of Rp17,101 per Euro) over the next year's giga.

With this savings, the company can carry out a plan to separate this ice cream business unit. The separation or spin-off is targeted to be completed by the end of 2025.

Unilever CEO Hein Schumacher said that until now the company is still unable to confirm which country the ice cream business unit will later be established as a new company.

The company has historically become a Dutch-Anglo company. We are managing the current food and ice cream division in the Netherlands, and the rest of the companies here from London," he said as quoted by The Guardian, Thursday, March 21.

"That doesn't mean that ice cream will become a Dutch company or a British company. We are looking for all options," he continued.

Unilever's ice cream division generates five of the world's 10 best-selling ice cream brands, including Wall's,men's, and Ben & Jerry's. These business units also make trademarks such as Cornetto, Viennetta, Carte d'Or and Breyers, which are big in the US.

So far, Unilever's ice cream business unit alone has been able to reap an annual revenue of 7.9 billion Euros or around Rp135.09 trillion per year. This unit also accounts for 16 percent of group sales.

The Guardian also said that along with the announcement of this split plan, Unilever's shares rose more than 3 percent on Tuesday, March 19, making it the top increase in FTSE 100.