School of Western Sydney University – ISB International School of Business

ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

STUDENT DETAILS

Student name: Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Bang Student ID number: 21001207

UNIT AND TUTORIAL DETAILS

Unit name: HRM-T123WSB-7 Unit number:

Lecturer or Tutor name: Mark Benesio Carace

ASSIGNMENT DETAILS

Title: Final Report (Individual)

Length: 4090 Due date: April 21st Date submitted: April 21st
Home campus (where you are enrolled): ISB International School of Business

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I hold a copy of this assignment if the original is lost or damaged.

I hereby certify that no part of this assignment or product has been copied from any other student’s work
or from any other source except where due acknowledgement is made in the assignment.
I hereby certify that no part of this assignment or product has been submitted by me in another (previous
or current) assessment, except where appropriately referenced, and with prior permission from the
Lecturer / Tutor / Unit Coordinator for this unit.
No part of the assignment/product has been written/produced for me by any other person except where
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I am aware that this work will be reproduced and submitted to plagiarism detection software programs for
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plagiarism checking).
Student’s
signature: Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Bang
Note: An examiner or lecturer / tutor has the right to not mark this assignment if the above declaration has
not been signed.

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ARO 00380 08/15

 HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT HAS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN
ENSURING A WORK-LIFE BALANCE
(ENSURING EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION AT WORK)

Table of Contents:
I. Executive Summary: .................................................................................................................2
II. Brief Company Background: ...................................................................................................3
1. General introduction: ..................................................................................................................3
2. History of the corporation: ..........................................................................................................3
III. Current Situation:.....................................................................................................................4
1. Unilever's organizational structure model: .................................................................................4
2. Unilever's organizational structure: ............................................................................................4
IV. Discussion: .................................................................................................................................5
1. Unilever's employee policies: .....................................................................................................5
2. Learning and Development: ........................................................................................................8
3. Unilever's human resource training plan in the future: ...............................................................9
V. Conclusion: ..............................................................................................................................10
VI. Reference List: ........................................................................................................................10
I. Executive Summary: A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
Unilever is one of the top multinational corporations all over the world, with a number of big brands
in global-market areas such as home care (CIF, OMO, Sunlight, Surf...), personal care (Closeup,
Pond's, Sunsilk, Lifebuoy...) and water purifier called Unilever Pureit. Additionally, Unilever is an
element of a massive industrial network that encompasses a hundred locations with tens of thousands
of highly skilled employees and administrative personnel. A A A A A Â A A A A A A A A A A
This report will go through the establishment process, structure model of the organization, preferential
policies for employees and a healthy working environment. Thereby drawing the importance of human
resource management, especially in ensuring the balance between work and life for employees.

II. Brief Company Background: A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A

1. General introduction: A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
Unilever, one of the oldest multinational corporations, was founded on September 2, 1929, from the
merger of the Dutch margarine factory Margarin Unie with the soap factory Lever British Brothers. In
addition, Unilever is a dual-listed company consisting of two headquarters, Unilever Plc in the UK
and Unilever NV in the Netherlands. To date, the value of this group ranks seventh in Europe.
On September 2, 1929, the Dutch margarine business Margarine Unie and the soap factory Lever
British Brothers merged to become Unilever, one of the oldest multinational corporations. In addition,
Unilever is also a dual-listed company with two headquarters, Unilever Plc in the UK and Unilever
NV in the Netherlands. To date, the value of this group ranks seventh in Europe and is well known for
producing consumer packaged goods (CPG), such as Knorr, Cornetto, Omo, Lux, Vim, Lifebuoy,
Dove, Close-up, Sunsilk, Clear, and so on. A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
Unilever operates as a single company with the same board of directors despite having two listed
entities. Moreover, the group owns more than 500 companies in 90 countries around the world with
more than 265 000 employees with an annual profit of about 40 billion Euro. This illustrates that
Unilever is one of the most successful companies in the world in the area of consumer health care
(Personal Care). Together with Protol & Gambel (P&G) (the biggest competitor of them), Unilever
currently dominates the world in these products. A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
Furthermore, Unilever is recognized as a sustainability pioneer by leading the food industry on the
Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the past 11 years, an achievement no other company can match.
2. History of the corporation: A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A Â A A A A A A
• Originally called Lever Brothers, it started out in the soap business.
• In 1884, Lever acquired a small soap factory. SSSSS S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S
• Thanks to effective marketing campaigns, in just one year, Lever's soap factory has grown
from 20 to 450 tons/week (with 2 strategic products, Lever's Pure Honey and Sunlight).
• In March 1888, Lever was determined to build a large-scale soap factory with an area of
23 hectares. S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S
• In 1890, Lever expanded its production and business beyond the borders of England.
Bringing products to Australia, Canada, Germany and Switzerland.
• In 1906, Lever acquired Vinolia – a soap manufacturing company.
• In 1910, bought Hudson's, a large detergent manufacturer in the UK.
• From 1910 to 1915, he bought three more British soap companies, one of which was Pears,
one of Unilever's main competitors.
 • In 1911, Lever Brothers dominated the soap market. One in three bars of soap was a
Unilever product. VSVSVS S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S
• After World War I, Lever continued to expand into Africa. . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .
• In January 1930, the merger between the Margarin Union of the Netherlands and Lever
Brothers took place. From there, Unilever was born. . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. .
• To avoid the double taxation system, this alliance decided to split into two companies,
Unilever PLC and Unilever NV. . . . .. . . . . . .
. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .
III. Current Situation: . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. .
1. Unilever's organizational structure model:

2. Unilever's organizational structure:

Unilever's organizational structure refers to the way in which people and work are arranged to assist
in meeting its goals and mission. The board of directors, non-executive directors, executive directors,
senior officers of the firm, workers, and other leaders are all combined in structure to create a unity of
command and action. Each department has its own authority and takes responsibility for different
tasks. However, these divisions continue to be supportive of one another, which boosts the company’s
production effectiveness.
Its departments and functions are:
• Material Supply Department: Find a place to supply materials to make the production
process more convenient.
• Accounting Department: Managing all capital and assets of the company, organizing the
inspection and implementation of economic and financial policies, and timely and accurate
statistics on the situation of assets and capital to help the Board of Directors easily check
the entire business activities of the company.
• Planning Department: Make plans to make the company's implementation process more
convenient, avoiding errors during operation.
• Human Resources Department: Managing human resources in the enterprise such as
recruiting more employees or planning to transfer people from one department to another.
• Marketing Department: Performing the task of introducing new products to customers,
implementing advertising campaigns and propagating the company's products.
In addition to fostering the freedom and creativity of its specialist departments, Unilever has secured
the functions and cohesion of each department through the aforementioned operating mechanism. This
facilitates the most effective operation of the business. Besides, the organization is further divided into
two divisions, the Department of Food and the Division of Home and Personal Care, which operate
independently of one another but are both managed by one director.
Unilever uses a global geographic structure. In the food business, dedicated regional directors will be
responsible for the regions they cover, including Asia, Europe, North America, Africa, the Middle
East, Turkey, and Latin America. This helps them have a better insight into the markets in the countries
in which they operate, as well as the policies that meet customer needs.
On the other hand, there is a drawback of this tactic, that it is difficult for Unilever to create a global
effect. The quest for economies of scale also grows when the prevalence of inexpensive and fake goods
on international marketplaces is emphasized.S S S S
S S S SS S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S
IV. Discussion:
Although it is an era of outstanding technology development, Unilever always attaches great
importance to human resource development because human resources play an essential role in
determining the corporation's success. Unilever employs approximately 180,000 people and 240,000
employees in more than 100 countries.
Unilever always focuses on training and coaching for employees. The Group also cares about
employee benefits and regularly conducts training courses abroad to help employees improve their
qualifications. In addition, Unilever also has a satisfactory salary and welfare policy for employees.
Those right policies have helped the company to have a very good corporate culture environment with
a team of highly qualified and capable employees and always ensure a sense of responsibility for the
group's goals.
Furthermore, Unilever also has an effective policy to attract new human resources, especially the
policy of recruiting human resources from students of universities and colleges. Since 1998 until now,
the group's "Administrator Trainee" program in Vietnam has attracted more than 200 studenfurts who
were recruited in respective positions such as marketing, sales, finance, and supply chain.
1. Unilever's employee policies:
a. Job opportunities:
Committed to creating equal employment opportunities for all employees and to oppose any form of
unlawful discrimination on the basis of age, race, nationality, country of origin, sex or sexual
orientation, marital status, religion, political, disabled, suspected HIV positive, or criminal history.
Ensure employees are treated fairly and equally and that all hiring, training, promotion, and career
development decisions are based on the employee's skills, abilities and suitability for the job.
b. Performance appraisal process:
All Unilever employees are involved in the job evaluation process. This process helps employees
develop skills, knowledge, and experience. In addition, this process also coordinates the setting of
work goals, performance evaluation, and career development planning.
An important goal of individual performance enhancement is to enhance corporate performance.
Therefore, the performance evaluation process must be built from the actual needs of the group, focus
on the priorities, and support the achievement of the goals of the group, department, and individual.
c. Promotion:
Promotion is one of the rewards for employees with excellent work performance. Promotions build on
job performance, experience, and the work the employee is doing.
d. Leave from work:
Quitting is the termination of an employment contract between an employee and Unilever. Retirement
usually includes termination of the employment contract, return, and unilateral termination of the
employment contract by the employee or by the employer.
e. Work time:
48 hours per week for all employees with flexible options tailored to job requirements.
Usually, employees will take weekly off on Sunday. However, according to work requirements,
employees can have a weekly off on another day instead of a Sunday, or have 4 days off weekly in a
month.
f. Wages:
The salary paid is the pre-tax salary, equal to the money paid by the employee subject to personal
income tax.
In accordance with the law, the company will temporarily calculate the personal income tax payable
on a monthly basis and temporarily deduct the employee's taxable income before paying the
employee's salary. The company will represent the employees to pay personal income tax to the state
in accordance with the law. At the end of the year, the corporation will make a tax determination and
notify the employee of the amount of tax that the employee must pay. Any overpaid or underpaid taxes
will be recalculated between the company and the employee. The company only withholds the
employee's personal income tax from the date the employee starts working with the company.
According to the Labor Law, the company will deduct 5% of Social Insurance and 1% of Health
Insurance from the employee's income to pay to the insurance agency. In addition, the company will
contribute an additional 17% of the employee's pre-tax income to the social and health insurance fund
for employee welfare.
Employees at level 1D and below will be compensated for working overtime. Employees from level
1C and above are only entitled to overtime work, but the company has the right to decide whether to
pay overtime or settle for compensatory leave.
In the case of overtime payment, payment shall be in the following items:
• 150% of normal pay when working on normal working days.
• 200% of regular pay when working on Sundays.
• 300% of normal pay when working on public holidays. In the case of compensatory leave,
the same rate also applies.
Employees who take unexcused leave or fail to obtain sick leave will not be paid for the leave.
g. Subsidies:
Depending on the individual standards for each working condition and environment, employees will
be entitled to the following types of allowances to offset the costs incurred for the completion of the
work, or the harmful factors caused in the process. work process.
• Sickness allowance: employees are entitled to a 30-day allowance if they have paid social
insurance premiums for less than 15 years; 40 days have paid social insurance for 15-30
years. The level of sickness ban allowance received from the Social Insurance Fund
replaces the amount based on the "Sick leave for social insurance" and is equal to 75% of
the pre-tax salary.
 • Toxic allowance: for employees exposed to or working in hazardous environments.
• Shift allowance: 35% of pre-tax salary for employees working from 8 night shifts/month
and 30% of salary before tax for employees working under 8 night shifts/month.
• Motorcycle maintenance allowance: for fuel and car payments for employees who often
use motorbikes to work for the company.
• Work-away-from-home allowance: for employees who are required to move to another
province other than their official workplace.
• Severance allowance: for employees to resign, retire, or legally quit the company.
Details of allowances will be handled by Human Resources - Salary and Welfare department.
h. Pay day:
Wages are paid on the 20th of every month through bank accounts for office workers or cash for
factory workers. If the 20th is a holiday or weekend, wages will be paid the day before.
If employees have questions about salary, they can actively notify their direct manager for answers.
Or employees can use the company's computer to check pay slips at Me & 0 on Unilever's website.
i. Payroll review:
On April 1 every year Unilever will review and adjust salaries for employees based on the level of
completion of the assigned work and the company's business performance.
Tet bonus
According to the Collective Labor Agreement, on Tet holiday, employees will be rewarded with at
least one month's salary before tax, paid in the December salary period before Te. Employees with
less than one year of service will be rewarded accordingly.
Flexible benefits
Benefits, including bonus benefits for the holidays of April 30, September 2, New Year's Day, lucky
money, lunch allowance for office staff and other in-kind benefits will be combined into Total Flexible
Benefits.
Achievement bonus
Performance bonus for employees based on the employee's work performance and the company's
business results. Depending on the employment contract, the employee may be entitled to a
performance bonus.
Performance bonus is usually paid out in April. The bonus will be based on the business results of the
region and the company, as well as the employee's work performance. Employees who leave, or are
not paid before December of each year, will not be entitled to achievements.
Maternity allowance
Pregnant female employees must notify their superiors as soon as possible so that the management
can arrange for the employee's change of work and maternity leave.
Taking maternity leave for 3 days is paid 75% of salary before tax by the Social Insurance Fund. In
addition, female employees are entitled to 4 months of paid maternity leave (or 6 months if working
in a hazardous environment). This maternity benefit will be paid by the State Social Insurance.
Holidays
Employees are entitled to leave with salary and allowance (if any) on the following holidays:

Holiday Days Date

 New Year’s Eve 1 1/1

30/12, 1/1, 2/1, 3/1

Lunar New Year 4
(Lunar Calender)

Liberation Day
2 30/4, 1/5
International Workers’ Day

National Day 1 2/9

If the holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the employee will be compensated for another day.
On leave
Depending on their seniority, employees will be entitled to the following leave days:
• Fixed-term contract employees: 12 days/year.
• Indefinite-term contract employees:
o Working years from 1 to 5 years: 15 days.
o Working experience from 6 to 10 years: 18 days.
o Working seniority from 11 to 15 years: 20 days.
o Working seniority from 16 to 20 years: 23 days.
o Working experience of more than 20 years: 25 days.
Employees must arrange annual leave at the end of that year with the manager. In case the DP requires
the work, the leave can only be carried over to the first quarter of the next year with the approval of
the head of the department.
Another day off
Employees are entitled to paid leave for the following sleep days:
• 4 months maternity leave.
• Get married: 3 days.
• Son/Daughter get married: 1 day.
• Parents (both husband's and wife's death), spouse, child's death: 3 days.
2. Learning and Development:
Bring value to life "Learn every day, apply everywhere".
Unilever Vietnam has been on a mission to inspire work and support employees to develop themselves
and become the most professional people in Vietnam, along with the development of the company.
The principle at Unilever is that all learning programs are tailored to the specific needs of the company.
The Company encourages employees to take ownership of their own learning and career development.
The department head, human resources staff and the training department only play the role of
supporting and guiding learning and career development.
a. Missions of each levels:
Senior managers
• Set training requirements for personnel and the training department.
• Encourage and facilitate employee learning and development.
Managers
• Encourage and support employees to apply new skills to work.
 • Train, guide and monitor employee development.
Personnels
• Understand departmental and training needs.
• Recommend and ensure the implementation of the annual training program of the
departments.
• Support department head or head of staff development.
• Responsible for the program of learning professional skills Training Department.
• Implement learning strategies Build a learning environment.
• Implement and implement company-wide learning programs.
• Provide effective learning solutions.
b. Various learning methods:
Unilever promotes diverse learning to create learning opportunities for employees to develop
personally and professionally. Those opportunities include:
Learn on the job
• Coaching, guidance and advice from superiors.
• Participate in projects.
• Consult with experts.
• Work in groups and participate in topics.
Learning outside of work
• Job switching.
• Dispatch or exchange abroad.
• Market survey.
• Visiting other Unilever branches.
• Working as an expert in a foreign country.
Self learning
• Study on the corporation's website.
• Library.
Formal training
• Courses, seminars, conferences.
Resources you can refer to
• Development materials: a guide to skills and competencies.
• Library: books, VCDs, CDs, tapes on professional and management skills.
• The process of job evaluation and training.
• Academic newsletter.
• Articles on management skills.
3. Unilever's human resource training plan in the future:
a. Develop a training strategy for each stage:
Unilever always focuses on training and developing human resources in a certain period.
In Vietnam, Unilever's human resources policy through developing human resource training programs
is Unilever Future Leaders, League Unilever Future Leaders Program for graduates. They are building
a Management Apprenticeship program for students to develop into leaders serving Unilever.
The company's new or old employees have equal learning opportunities. They can experience the
leading professional working environment in Vietnam. In addition, job acceptance also allows
expanding opportunities for employees to learn in higher positions such as leadership, department
head, etc.
b. Actively promote corporate culture:
The corporate culture environment is built on the basis of equality and respect for employees' rights.
This helps to form a business with a competitive culture to develop in a healthy way, ensuring the
cohesion of employees into a strong solidarity.
Welfare for Unilever's employees is also very focused. Employees are always guaranteed the best
benefits as well as the best working environment, serving the work of employees
c. Comprehensive HR care:
The building of a working environment should be closely linked with the regimes of taking care of
employees' lives. This contributes to making Unilever's recruitment easier, as well as retaining the best
employees for the business. Thereby, the working spirit of employees will be stronger, helping them
to implement development strategies in the best way.

V. Conclusion:
After considering the above criteria, it can be concluded that recruitment incentives have been
successful in attracting human resources. However, the elite employees who stay after the internship
and sign long-term contracts with the company are thanks to the fair and objective strategies that the
human resources department has put in place. Moreover, the leaders of the human resources
department also understand that an employee works most effectively when he comes to work with a
very comfortable mind, so they have created the maximum working and learning conditions. for its
employees.
To conclude, Unilever's policies and strategies highlight the importance of work-life balance for
employees.

VI. Reference List:

Beek, V. (2010). BUILDING STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES: THE CASE OF
UNILEVER. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 5(3).
https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/ijls/new/vol5iss3/Vanbeek_5.pdf
Dentoni, D., & Veldhuizen, M. (Eds.). (2012). Building Capabilities for Multi-Stakeholder
Interactions at Global and Local Levels: The case of Unilever. International Food and
Agribusiness Management Review. https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.142299
Gospel, H., & Sako, M. (2010). The unbundling of corporate functions: the evolution of shared
services and outsourcing in human resource management. Industrial and Corporate
Change, 19(5), 1367–1396. https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtq002
Lawrence, J., Rasche, A., & Kenny, K. (2018). Sustainability as Opportunity: Unilever’s Sustainable
Living Plan. Managing Sustainable Business, 435–455. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-
1144-7_21
Maljers, F. A. (1990). Strategic planning and intuition in Unilever. Long Range Planning, 23(2), 63–
68. https://doi.org/10.1016/0024-6301(90)90200-n
Tien, N. H. (2020, January). (PDF) Comparative analysis of multi-domestic strategy of P&G and
Unilever Corporation. ResearchGate.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338719379_Comparative_analysis_of_multi-
domestic_strategy_of_PG_and_Unilever_Corporation
Unilever. (2018). Careers. Unilever Global Company Website. https://www.unilever.com/careers/
Unilever. (2021). Respecting People Engaging Externally Countering Corruption Safeguarding
Information.
https://assets.unilever.com/files/92ui5egz/production/3658b4c9c7a33bd719b8dd98d0f76214
46e7fa6d.pdf/2021-code-of-business-principles-english.pdf
Unilever. (2022). Our history & archives. Unilever. https://www.unilever.com/our-company/our-
history-and-archives/
Unilever. (2023). Unilever at a Glance. Unilever; www.unilever.com. https://www.unilever.com/our-
company/at-a-glance/
Weingardt, C.-A. (1971). ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE AND COMMUNICATION IN THE
UNILEVER COMPANY. International Studies of Management & Organization, 1(4), 377–
393. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41103775