Our Partnership
with Unilever

At Unilever, retaining talented women and supporting long-term progression is a clear priority.

But across a global organisation, parental transitions can be experienced very differently – depending on location, manager support and local context. 

Following internal insight, it became clear that a more consistent, scalable approach was needed. 

Not just policies, but something people could actively use – wherever they were, and whenever they needed it. 

Unilever partnered with Talking Talent to create that experience. 

Parental transitions are complex at any level. At a global scale, that complexity increases. 

Experiences can vary widely across regions. Manager confidence isn’t always consistent. 

And support can be difficult to access in the moments it’s needed most. 

Unilever wanted to: 

• Retain female talent through key life transitions 

• Provide consistent support across multiple geographies 

• Equip managers to better support their teams 

• Create an experience that felt relevant, practical and easy to access 

The challenge was scale, without losing the human element of support. 

Talking Talent worked with Unilever to design a digital, coaching-led experience to support employees and managers across the full parental journey. 

Rather than a static resource, it was designed as an interactive experience, helping people reflect, plan and navigate decisions in real time. 

The approach included: 

• Support for employees before, during and after parental leave 

• Guidance for those considering starting a family 

• Dedicated support for managers, improving consistency of experience 

• Personalised journeys shaped by individual needs and context 

• Localised content, reflecting different regions and policies  

The experience combined practical tools, coaching prompts and real stories from across the organisation – making it both relevant and accessible. It allowed people to engage in a way that suited them. 

Whether that meant a quick check-in during the day, or more structured reflection at key points in the transition. 

The experience scaled rapidly across the organisation: 

• 2,700+ active users across 90 countries 

• Strong engagement before leave and on return to work 

• High levels of interaction across regions, reflecting global relevance 

Some of the most visible impact came through how people engaged: 

• Employees actively shared personal moments and experiences 

• Support was accessed at different times and in different ways, depending on need 

• The experience became part of how people navigated the transition — not just a one-off resource 

Senior leadership support also played a role, reinforcing the importance of the initiative across the business. 

The approach balanced scale with flexibility. It created a consistent framework for support, while allowing individuals to engage in ways that felt relevant to them. 

By including both employees and managers, it helped align expectations and improve day-to-day experiences. And by making support accessible at any time, it reflected the reality of how these transitions happen – not just how they’re planned. 

That combination made it easier for people to engage, and to keep engaging over time. 

For global organisations, consistency of experience is often the hardest thing to achieve. Unilever chose to address that directly. By creating an environment where support is always available and designed around real life – they made it more possible for people to stay, progress and feel supported wherever they are. 

Not by standardising people’s experiences, but by making support more accessible and more human. 

Talent doesn’t leave organisations. It leaves environments that hold it back. 

We should talk about that.