Ice Cream Senior Manager, Employee/Labor Relations IC NA

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Job Title: Ice Cream Senior Manager, Employee/Labor Relations IC NA

Location: Remote – USA (Ability to travel up to 50% of the time)

Terms & Conditions: Full time, International assignment is not available for this role and relocation for local and international candidates is not provided

If you want to work for a global, leading Ice Cream player with €7.9bn Turn Over in 2023, come join Unilever Ice Cream! The Ice Cream business is operating in a highly attractive category, as we are part of the 1 trillion snacking and refreshment industry, growing consistently at high pace. We have strong brands equities: 5 of top 10 selling brands including Ben & Jerry’s, Breyers, Magnum, Talenti, Popsicle, Good Humor, Klondike, and Yasso. We are investing to unlock the full growth potential of Ice Cream as a standalone entity, once we separate from Unilever, which is planned to happen by November 2025.

Ice Cream has distinct characteristics from Unilever’s other operating businesses and the growth potential of Ice Cream will be better delivered under a different ownership structure. As Ice Cream company we are committed to developing and nurturing talent within our Ice Cream company. You will have options for career growth and exploration, allowing you for you to explore roles and opportunities across the new organization. Your career development will be a priority for us, and we are dedicated to supporting your growth journey within the new company. We hope that you will want to build the new chapter of our Ice Cream history together with us.

Unilever Ice Cream is the world’s leading ice cream company, home to a portfolio of iconic brands like Magnum, Ben & Jerry’s, Breyers, Talenti, and Yasso. We're committed to creating innovative products that bring unforgettable moments to our consumers—because, after all, “Life tastes better with ice cream.”

The Ice Cream division at Unilever is preparing to stand on its own, becoming an independent, EUR 8 billion single-category focused company by the end of 2025. This move reflects our belief in the power of our unique frozen footprint, which we see as having huge potential for growth as a pure-play business. Our focus is all about unlocking that potential, driving value for our consumers, customers, employees, and shareholders.

JOB PURPOSE:

The Unilever Ice Cream business will form a separate organization from July ’25. This entails building standalone distinct capabilities to support this new organization – including Employee Relations. Join our dynamic team at a leading ice cream supply chain and manufacturing business with four state-of-the-art factories. We are committed to delivering the highest quality ice cream products to our customers while fostering a positive and productive work environment for our employees.

What You will Do: The Employee Relations Manager leads various projects on the Industrial and Employee Relations agenda of North America. The Employee Relations Manager will be responsible for managing and enhancing employee and industrial relations across our supply chain. We are looking for a quick and strategic thinker with a keen eye for group dynamics, that has a growth mindset and thinks innovatively. Someone who (proactively) challenges the status quo, brings different views together and is a great communicator. You work with stakeholders across our region and use data insights to make informed decisions and actively explore strategic directions. This role also involves developing and implementing policies, resolving employee issues, and promoting a positive workplace culture. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in human resources, excellent communication skills, and a passion for fostering a supportive and inclusive work environment. This role requires deep expertise in employee relations within North America, primarily in the United States and to a lesser degree, Canada.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Lead strategy on people engagement in our factories across the US and Canada in both union and nonunion sites to create culture of learning, development and improvement.
• Utilize knowledge of employee and labor relations trends, and legal decisions, and statutory changes to stay ahead of employee relations trend and develop people-focused policies and practices.
• Serve as the chief strategist and first chair in contract negotiations with recognized employee organizations, working closely with local site and business partners to create and execute strategy
• Mentor, coach and guide site Human Resources department managers and staff regarding employee relations and engagement issues and best practices
• Foster a productive and cooperative relationship with hourly workforce in both union & non-union sites. 
• Act as subject matter expert and escalation point on investigations and employee relations matters
• Serve as an internal consultant/business liaison that can translate supply chain strategies and objectives into an HR agenda, initiatives and/or actions that help drive positive business performance across factories
• Partner to Supply Chain Leadership Team and VP of Manufacturing on all HR matters including engagement, organizational design, employee relations and strategy.
• Act as trusted advisor in addition to the Subject Matter Expert for the factory network including HRBPs, Factory Leaders, and VPs.
• Develop long term labor plan based on internal and external factors, building master plans and glide paths.
• Develop and present labor and bargaining strategies to senior stakeholders and recommend actions, facilitate trainings and lead steering committees.
• Partner with HR Leadership team to connect broader HR agenda to factory agenda driving alignment and prioritization across multiple stakeholders.
• Apply project management leadership to drive action, deliver results, and manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.
• Work with cross functional stakeholders to gather information, build business cases, and create employee relations strategy.
• Deploy to factories to deliver strategic HR projects including engagement programs, organizational design, cultural transformation and development with proven success in both union and non-union environments.
• May represent local sites in arbitrations and hearings related to unfair labor practice complaints.
• Lead the flexible manufacturing labor strategy. This includes managing contingent labor vendors, using vendor relationships and partnership with the Procurement team, use KPIs to drive improvement in the program to meet the agility needs of Unilever.  Ensure service delivery, assist troubleshooting with the factory sites as needed.  Lead local and global auditing implementation as prescribed.
• Facilitate regular meetings with the vendor, drive analytics for cost improvement, advise local sites on system functionality, create the annual budget.  Serve as the primary approver for system configuration changes and oversite for compliance.
• Represent North America on the Global Labor Relations Committee.

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCES QUALIFICATIONS:

• BA/BS in Labor Relations, Human Resources or related field
• 8+ years of HR experience in a fast-paced manufacturing setting; Food preferred but not critical
• Experience in developing and implementing labor and employee relations strategy in unionized environment
• Experience in the following areas
  • Employee Relations
  • Labor Negotiations
  • Employee Engagement
  • Strategy development and deployment across multi-site organizations
• Deep knowledge of employment law & compliance best practice
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities efficiently and effectively
• Excellent communication skills with audiences of all levels
• Curious and innovative mindset to continually adapt to everchanging business needs
• Ability to travel up to 50% of the time; sometimes more when bargaining

Who You Are:   

• Founders’ Mindset: The Ice Cream separation is an exceptional opportunity to design something new – with no ‘sacred cows’ or periphery to limit your vision. We need someone who can think boundary-less & fully own this agenda
• Agile Mindset & Design Thinking: Fast, iterative, prototype thinking
• PERSONAL MASTERY: Sets high standards for themselves. Has emotional intelligence to take feedback, manage mood and motivations, and build empathy for others.
• PASSION FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE: Generates intensity and focus to motivate people to deliver results at speed. Takes personal responsibility and accountability for execution and results.

ARE YOU EXCITED TO CRAFT THE ICE CREAM FUTURE?

We take pleasure seriously. Join the Ice Cream team now!

What We Can Offer You

Meet the Women of Customer Development | Culture for Growth | Top Notch Employee Health & Well Being Benefits | Every Voice Matters | Global Reach | Life at Unilever | Careers with Purpose | World Class Career Development Programs | Check Out Our Space | Focus On Sustainability

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Unilever is an organization committed to diversity and inclusion to drive our business results and create a better future every day for our diverse employees, global consumers, partners, and communities. We believe a diverse workforce allows us to match our growth ambitions and drive inclusion across the business. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state, or federal law and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability. 

For more information about your Federal rights, please see Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal and Pay Transparency Non-discrimination Provision.

Employment is subject to verification of pre-screening tests, which may include drug screening, background check, credit check and DMV check.

If you are an individual with a disability in need of assistance at any time during our recruitment process, please contact us at NA.Accommodations@unilever.com. Please note: This email is reserved for individuals with disabilities in need of assistance and is not a means of inquiry about positions or application statuses. The Protected Veterans or Individuals with Disabilities AAP narratives are available for inspection by any employee or applicant for employment Monday through Friday during normal business hours at establishment.

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