LONDON, March 30 - Dove soap maker Unilever has placed a temporary hold on hiring across the business, implementing a global recruitment freeze "at all levels" that will remain in effect for at least three months, according to an internal memo circulated to staff late last week.
The memo, from Fabian Garcia, who leads Unilever's personal care operations, said the halt is effective immediately and was taken in light of what he described as "macro economic and geopolitical realities, especially in the Middle East conflict," pointing specifically to the month-old Iran war as a driver of near-term uncertainty.
"With this in mind, the Unilever Leadership Executive team has agreed a global recruitment freeze at all levels. This will be effective immediately and last for a minimum of three months," Garcia wrote in the memo.
The company said in a statement that the external environment is uncertain and that the temporary pause on recruitment reflects that reality, while adding that it will continue to adjust plans as necessary.
Unilever highlighted the broader disruption linked to the widening Middle East conflict, saying firms across sectors from airlines to retail are moving to shore up resilience as the conflict has displaced trade flows and resulted in what the company described as severe interruptions to oil and gas supplies. Rising energy prices have begun to feed through into other markets, slowing output in energy-intensive industries such as chemicals and plastics, the memo noted.
Although the group manufactures the bulk of its consumer products close to the markets where they are sold, it sources chemicals, food ingredients, packaging and other raw materials that are energy-intensive to produce. Those purchases expose unit costs to volatility in energy markets, a factor Unilever cited in explaining the recruitment pause.
The hiring freeze is being applied on top of a cost-cutting program Unilever put in place in 2024. That program aims to deliver around 800 million euros in savings over the next three years and originally included proposals expected to affect roughly 7,500 roles globally, mainly office-based positions.
Unilever's workforce has already been reduced substantially in recent years. The company currently employs about 96,000 people, down from roughly 149,000 in 2020.
Sales-volume growth across Unilever's businesses has been a persistent challenge since the Covid-19 pandemic, a dynamic the company continues to address through structural changes. On March 20, Unilever said it was in talks with McCormick & Company over a potential sale of its foods business. Under the proposed combination, the British group's shareholders would likely retain a majority stake in the new entity.
The company reiterated that the recruitment freeze is temporary and will be revisited as conditions evolve. The memo framed the decision as a precautionary step to manage near-term uncertainty driven by geopolitical developments and market responses, rather than a change in long-term strategy.
Context and immediate implications
The move to pause hiring globally signals a cautious stance from management in the face of elevated input-cost risk stemming from energy market shocks tied to the Middle East conflict. It compounds an existing program of cost discipline intended to deliver significant savings through 2027.
The company also faces strategic portfolio decisions concurrently, as talks about its foods arm continue. Management has been reshaping the business mix amid sluggish volume trends, and the hiring freeze is an operational step that aligns with both short-term risk management and the ongoing transformation agenda.
Financial note
Currency reference: $1 = 0.8727 euros.
Disclosure
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