Case Study: Unilever
Unilever acknowledges a clear and measureable business
benefi t from investing in workplace wellbeing. It believes it
helps employees perform at their best, enabling the business
to follow suit.
The company developed 'Fit Business' which builds on its
existing occupational health activity and draws together
existing public health programmes, the work done by its
brands and its nutrition expertise into a single scheme.
The scheme's pilot programme was launched in 2009, and
was split into clear quarterly themes that linked to external
public health campaigns such as: the Food Standards
Agency's (FSA) campaigns on saturated fat and salt, and
the Government's Change4Life campaign which focused on
increasing physical activity.
For example, in the fi rst quarter the scheme focused on
saturated fat reduction in line with the FSA's Saturated Fat
campaign. At Unilever, this resulted in the introduction of
GDAs (Guideline Daily Amounts) in the company's canteens
and offering staff healthier swop recommendations in site
restaurants.
Independent evaluation of the pilot scheme by the Institute
for Public Policy Research (IPPR) found that the number of
people who agreed that they enjoy better health as a result
of working at Unilever increased from 43% to 64% directly
as a result of the Fit Business scheme. As a result of the pilot
fi ndings, Unilever has started the process of implementing Fit
Business at all 17 of its sites across the UK and Ireland.
Gold Award Winner of 2010 Community Partnership Awards: Workplace Category
More Information
FDF has published a booklet Community Partnership Awards 2010 (pdf, 2Mb) featuring a range of company case studies from Community Partnership Award
winners.