Unilever

M. Scott Whitson

Jonathan Joyce

On-Shelf Availability Champion

As an On-Shelf Availability Champion, Jonathan Joyce goes into large retailers to confirm that Unilever products like Bertolli, Degree, Ragu, and Pond’s are available to browsing consumers. If they aren’t, Joyce is responsible for devising process improvement programs that prevent shelves from being empty. In his current role, he is part of a global team and has opportunities to travel the world—which so far has included traveling around England for a month to learn about and import his current project to the US Unilever portfolio.

How did you first become interested in Unilever?
I was an intern for a different company which wanted to evolve into an environmentally-friendly company, and every time they made sustainability improvements, they would compare themselves to Unilever. Working there, I became interested in Unilever, because it sounded like such a progressive and innovative company. Fortunately, when I returned to campus Unilever was recruiting, so I applied and got a job in the management trainee program.

What role do you play in making your company diverse?
For me, it’s important to bring a new perspective to obstacles and challenges. My educational background is in politics and economics, which is different from the supply chain people I work with. Combining that with my ethnic background and growing up in Tennessee brings an interesting mix to the table.

Why is diversity important at Unilever?
Unilever has the opportunity to sell our products all over the world, so we need to make sure a diverse set of people are developing, producing, marketing, and selling these products. We’re a global organization that spans over 150 countries, and we need input from employees of all backgrounds so our products can be the best they can be.

What surprised you the most when you started?
Amazingly, there is a ton of work that goes into making the products we take for granted. When I was in my first role here, as a procurement operations analyst, we had a situation where there was civil unrest in a country and I couldn’t source mushrooms for Ragu tomato sauce. I had to work with R&D, buyers, and marketing to gain approval for switching to another mushroom source. Consumers don’t realize it, but these problems are very common. To make sure you have that bottle of Ragu every day—it’s a lot.