Insight

The role of the corporate services department is to empower the employees by providing superior and quality services and benefits. In Unilever, corporate services handle benefits administration, maintenance of facilities and health and safety. Proper compensation and benefits are needed to attract, retain and motivate employees. Benefits present advantages not only for the employees but for the employers as well. First of all, it gives the employees job satisfaction. Employees become happy and satisfied if their services are fairly rewarded. For the employer, this implies better productivity because happy and satisfied employees are efficient employees. It also provides employees a great motivation to work harder because their needs are sufficiently fulfilled. Benefits such as different types of insurances provide the employees peace of mind and relieve fears that come during unexpected events. In Unilever, a mere membership to the organization gives employees several benefits – such as gym, drug store and rice subsidy – that very few other companies provide. Working in corporate services has shown me the importance of carefully designing the right benefit packages and employee services. Several applicants who are vying for a position in Unilever are testaments to the reputation and image of the company as a good employer. Employees who receive their monthly gift packs or utilize the services of the gym project their satisfaction which will be translated to their performance in the workplace.

Besides providing satisfaction to the employees, HR, or Corporate Services must also ensure that the stakeholders are pleased. In Unilever for example, monthly gift packs given to employees are under a budget. During the time of procurement of items for the July gift pack, I’ve seen how corporate services considered what items the employees might need for the month as well as the budget they must stick to. Some employees who got their July gift packs inquired why some...