Unilever Expects to ‘Refresh’ (Replace) 25% of Top 200 Global Managers

Unilever CEO Fernando Fernandez announced plans to significantly overhaul the company’s global top management team, potentially replacing 25% of the top 200 managers following performance reviews, according to numerous reports covering his presentation during the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference this week.

Fernandez said the company has been “an inconsistent performer,” a bloated organization with an inconsistent performance culture, and despite efforts already underway to eliminate mediocrity throughout, significant change was ahead.

He said the top 200 managers would be benchmarked against the market and that he expected a quarter of them to be “refreshed,” according to reports. Fernandez took the reins of Unilever in February, when the company ousted Hein Schumacher from the role unexpectedly after less than two years. Fernandez is ramping up the restructuring plan Schumacher begun by the announced spinoff of the company’s ice cream business.

Unilever has cut its white-collar workforce by 18% in the past 18 months, Fernandez said. In March 2024, when the company first announced the spinoff of the ice cream business, it also announced its intention to cut 7,500 jobs across the company.