Accenture Secures Five year HR Business Process Outsourcing Contract with Unilever

LONDON – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has won a new five-year contract with Unilever (FTSE: ULVR) to provide human resources (HR) business process outsourcing (BPO) services that benefit more than 130,000 Unilever employees in over 100 countries and introduce a series of service improvements focused on enhancing the user experience. Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Under the terms of the contract, Accenture will work with Unilever to continue to improve the quality and effectiveness of its HR services. The scope of the contract includes recruitment, reward and core HR administration, and learning services covering content sourcing and development, program planning and delivery, learning system hosting, payroll administration, and management and administrative services.

As part of the renewed contract, Accenture will closely align the services it delivers with Unilever’s Talent Agenda. With the introduction of a number of innovations, the services Accenture provides will focus on delivering business-relevant results in line with Unilever’s key business priorities. The program will drive greater efficiencies and an improved user experience. The enhanced contract will include a number of new elements.

For example, as part of a revitalized Service Performance Model, Accenture and Unilever will go beyond traditional operational service-level agreements and team to achieve outcomes relevant to Unilever’s business targets.

Additionally, Accenture will introduce a more proactive recruiting approach, including the expanded use of social media. Proactive sourcing tools will support more effective, forecasting-led recruiting methods and will result in a broader, more appropriate candidate pool for Unilever.

Learning services will be expanded by Accenture to support Unilever’s focus on developing future leaders and will incorporate professional skills building modules into a refreshed learner curriculum. Through the delivery of courses from the functional to strategic, Accenture will help develop the next generation of talent within Unilever.

The new agreement aligns HR services with Unilever’s sustainability agenda. For example, learning programs will make greater use of virtual instructor-led training (VILT), while recruitment services will increase the use of technology where possible, reducing environmental costs.

“This contract renewal represents a new milestone in Accenture’s 10-year collaboration with Unilever, and is testament to the work that we have delivered,” said Teo Correia, a senior managing director in Accenture’s Consumer Goods & Services practice who leads Accenture’s work with Unilever. “Unilever strives continually to find new ways of improving its HR function to enhance the skills and abilities of its global workforce, and this contract is key to achieving future success and higher performance. We look forward to helping Unilever achieve its goals.”

Accenture will deliver the services through its Global Delivery Network, using multiple centers across the United States, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with 257,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$27.9 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2012. Its home page is www.accenture.com.