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Unilever freezes salaries of management including new CEO
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Unilever freezes salaries of management including new CEO
MUMBAI: Consumer goods heavyweight Unilever is reported to have frozen the salaries
of its management including new chief executive Paul Polman from January 1, as part of a larger programme to rein in costs. The company has intensifed cost-cutting measures in 2009, attributing the move to an uncertain trading outlook for the next two years.
Unilever said trading conditions in the US and Latin America worsened in the fourth quarter. It derives over 44% of its revenue from developing countries. HUL, the Indian subsidiary, has also called for a similar severe cost-cutting programme but refrained from announcing any freeze on pay hikes.
HUL has instead stated that a higher proportion of its salaries of its employees in 2009, will be variable pay as part of performance-driven compensation. HUL is also shifting a large part of the costs from fixed to variable in an uncertain market scenario.
When contacted, an HUL spokesperson said: "No. There is no salary freeze. Our remuneration philosophy is to be market competitive on our overall reward and to strengthen linkage between performance and reward. 2009 is no different. We will ensure our base salary maintains our market competitiveness while providing significant impetus to our variable pay to further strengthen reward differentiation."
HUL which makes home and personal care brands like Surf, Ponds, Dove and Fair & Lovely derives more than 50% of its sales from rural markets which continue to record upbeat growth rates of over 15%. The company had posted a 12.7% rise in fourth-quarter underlying net profit and is hopeful that softening commodity prices bode well for its business. Last year, its mainstay soaps and detergents business was weighed down by a drop in volumes because of high input costs.
Source:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Features/Job_trends_during_times_of_turbulen
of its management including new chief executive Paul Polman from January 1, as part of a larger programme to rein in costs. The company has intensifed cost-cutting measures in 2009, attributing the move to an uncertain trading outlook for the next two years.
Unilever said trading conditions in the US and Latin America worsened in the fourth quarter. It derives over 44% of its revenue from developing countries. HUL, the Indian subsidiary, has also called for a similar severe cost-cutting programme but refrained from announcing any freeze on pay hikes.
HUL has instead stated that a higher proportion of its salaries of its employees in 2009, will be variable pay as part of performance-driven compensation. HUL is also shifting a large part of the costs from fixed to variable in an uncertain market scenario.
When contacted, an HUL spokesperson said: "No. There is no salary freeze. Our remuneration philosophy is to be market competitive on our overall reward and to strengthen linkage between performance and reward. 2009 is no different. We will ensure our base salary maintains our market competitiveness while providing significant impetus to our variable pay to further strengthen reward differentiation."
HUL which makes home and personal care brands like Surf, Ponds, Dove and Fair & Lovely derives more than 50% of its sales from rural markets which continue to record upbeat growth rates of over 15%. The company had posted a 12.7% rise in fourth-quarter underlying net profit and is hopeful that softening commodity prices bode well for its business. Last year, its mainstay soaps and detergents business was weighed down by a drop in volumes because of high input costs.
Source:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Features/Job_trends_during_times_of_turbulen
