Unilever Canada members of the Sustainable Living team participate in a bingo game and cleanup at Queen's Park in Toronto.Provided
Holly Whitnall has been working at Unilever Canada for more than 10 years, in a variety of different positions. But while she currently leads a team working on global technology and operations transformation for the Toronto-based consumer packaged goods company, it’s a volunteer role that’s igniting her passion right now.
“Unilever has several business resource groups, where people from different departments are focused around a purpose,” says Whitnall, who leads the company’s Sustainable Living team business resource group. “We volunteer above and beyond our jobs because we’re passionate about the topic.”
The team gets together once a month to talk about issues, work together on initiatives, bring in guest speakers and organize events like community garbage pickups and, recently, a visit to a Toronto recycling facility.
“We’re very aware of the role we play in the waste creation cycle, and we thought it would be impactful to go to the facility and see how it works,” she says. “It was eye-opening. And we shared what we learned with the staff and leadership, which will hopefully lead to developing packaging that’s easier to recycle.”
Naniss Gadel-Rab, general manager of Unilever Canada’s Nutrition division, stresses that sustainability is central to everything the company does.
“Our purpose is to make sustainable living commonplace,” she says. “And while we drive sustainability from the top down, it’s fascinating to see the passion and energy of employee-driven efforts like the Sustainable Living team, and what you get when you create the space for people to develop their own program and purpose.”
Whitnall says that being in the business resource group also creates opportunities for her to communicate and connect with company leaders. “They recognize the passion we have and the fact that we’re volunteering our time, and they take it seriously,” she says. “It’s given me a lot of chances to interact with leadership and have influence in ways that I wouldn’t have just in my job.”
Whitnall is also grateful for the opportunities she’s been given to work in different roles and divisions.
“Your breadth of responsibility tends to be big, and you get exposed to a lot of different areas,” she says. “I was customer-facing with retailers, but I also spent time in marketing and then technology, which led me to join the supply chain team, and from there I moved into this global role. There’s a huge amount of opportunity to move around and do what interests you.”
For Gadel-Rab, who has been with Unilever for 23 years, the company’s culture of open communication is key. “It’s people-centric and very inclusive,” she says. “Every voice and opinion matter, every idea is welcomed, everyone has a space to express their opinions. And it’s purpose-led.”
Gadel-Rab’s own purpose includes a focus on reducing food waste through initiatives that engage employees as well as consumers.
“We introduced a free app called Fridge Night that shows you how to turn a few things in your fridge into a great meal,” she says. “We’ve also partnered with an organization to go to schools and teach young people how to reduce food waste, and collect unsold food from stadiums across Canada and give it to food banks.”
Whitnall also values the company’s commitment to sustainability. “Food waste is a good example, and there are lots of others,” she says. “I think the reason I’ve stayed so long and see a future in front of me is that this is a company that has a true purpose in how we operate and everything we do.”
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Advertising feature produced by Canada’s Top 100 Employers, a division of Mediacorp Canada Inc. The Globe and Mail’s editorial department was not involved.