TRAILBLAZER
“ I am so inspired by what Chanel stands for . It is a company that believes in the freedom of creation , in cultivating human potential and in acting to have a positive impact in the world ”
Leena Nair – achievements as CHRO of Unilever You would think that having overall responsibility as CHRO for the company ’ s 150,000-strong human capital across 190 countries would have been achievement enough , but Leena ’ s strong leadership , HR expertise , and passion for people was instrumental in helping to drive the continued growth of both Unilever ’ s profits ( US $ 50.7bn ) and its purpose .
Unilever is one of the world ’ s most socially conscious companies , scoring a best-in-class rating on S & P Global Rating ’ s ESG Evaluation in 2019 , and crowned industry leader in personal products with continued scores of 90 + in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index since 2016 .
It is also one of the world ’ s most diverse , and it has been Leena ’ s leadership , driving the diversity and inclusion agenda for the company ’ s workforce , that created such an industry-leading culture .
Under her tenure , as CHRO , Unilever achieved a 50 / 50 gender balance across global leadership with Leena leading a pioneering agenda with bold new social commitments , including recent pledges to pay the living wage across its entire supply chain by 2030 , and equip 10 million young people with essential skills by 2030 .
She created numerous projects , many of which were pioneering the future of global work . She spearheaded the Unilever ‘ discover your purpose ’ workshops , catering to 6,000 employees to date ; pioneered the four-day week pilot programme currently being explored in New Zealand ; instigated the U-Work program , which joins the flexibility of contact work with the security and benefits of an in-house role ; and initiated U-Renew , a paid learning sabbatical programme to help workers upskill , currently under test .
Throughout her career at Unilever , Leena innovated in the delivery of culture-rich programmes , having previously initiated as Unilever ’ s VP of HR for South Asia the Career by Choice programme , to help women who ’ d fallen off the career ladder to re-join the workforce .
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