Inside Unilever’s Program that Allows Employees to Try New Jobs and Gigs at the Company | Business Insider

I have shared several posts highlighting how firms are unlocking workforce capacity by redeploying the skills of their workers to company projects versus simply roles and jobs. This article shares aspects of Unilever’s flex-work program that encourage employees to “explore new parts of the business, contribute in different ways, and develop new skills and passions” via project work. To support this effort, Unilever solicits help for projects from employees by posting projects on its technology platform and empowers employees to dedicate approximately 15-20% of their time to support project work. The firm notes that “flex-work is a centerpiece of the company’s talent mobility strategy, and it’s also helping Unilever better understand the capabilities of its employees…it unlocks capacity in the organization by having people from different functions and departments, even different countries, working on critical projects in the organization.” Unilever has also introduced U-work, an alternative to the gig economy; it uses full-time employment contracts where the workers’ entire job comprises project work across the company. What strategies and tactics is your firm employing to unlock organizational capacity through project-based work? If you missed it, here is a report I shared previously from a cross-industry pilot program started by Walmart and Unilever and intended to tap employee capacity through projects and adjacent skills.