{"id":898052,"date":"2026-04-09T12:22:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T17:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/09\/unilever-freezes-hiring-as-iran-war-poses-significant-challenges\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T12:22:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T17:22:24","slug":"unilever-freezes-hiring-as-iran-war-poses-significant-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/09\/unilever-freezes-hiring-as-iran-war-poses-significant-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"Unilever freezes hiring as Iran war poses \u2018significant challenges\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Unilever

Unilever’s merger comes as it faces pressure to slim down<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

FTSE 100 giant Unilever<\/a> has placed a global freeze on hiring for at least three months as the Iran war wreaks havoc on global supply chains and fuel prices.<\/p>\n

The London-based business, which owns Dove soap and Hellman\u2019s mayonnaise, told staff the ban on hiring will affect \u201call levels\u201d of recruitment and was taken in response to the \u201csignificant challenges\u201d posed by the crisis in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Unilever was working to shed costs even before the Iran war broke out in February, as it looks to follow up the sale of its ice cream business by offloading the whole of its food brands arm.<\/p>\n

The arrival of new boss Fernando Fernandez in March last year hailed a pivot towards the company\u2019s beauty and personal care brands, as the firm shed thousands of jobs to become a \u201csimpler, sharper and faster Unilever\u201d.<\/p>\n

Fernandez plans to save \u20ac800m over three years and shed 7,500 jobs \u2013 including 200 managers as the new chief executive takes aim at \u201cmediocrity\u201d in the firm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the company\u2019s hiring freeze came after the Iran war, and the blockage of crucial shipping passage the Strait of Hormuz, choked global supply chains and sent fuel prices soaring.<\/p>\n

The significant transit delays in the Middle East are making shipping more expensive, and the manufacture of plastic packaging is becoming more expensive.<\/p>\n

Fabian Garcia, the head of Unilever\u2019s personal care business, wrote in a memo first reported by Reuters: \u201cMacro economic and geopolitical realities, especially in the Middle East conflict [\u2026] bring some significant challenges for the coming few months.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this in mind, the Unilever Leadership Executive team has agreed a global recruitment freeze at all levels. This will be effective immediately and last for a minimum of three months.\u201d<\/p>\n

The firm said it has taken the steps due to an \u201cuncertain\u201d external environment and will adjust its plans \u201cas necessary\u201d.<\/p>\n

Unilever offloads food brands<\/h2>\n

Unilever also hopes to slim down its business by offloading its food brands, and said<\/a> a sale could be confirmed as soon as Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The firm, whose food brands include Bovril and Marmite, confirmed<\/a> earlier this month it is in talks to sell its food arm to US spice and seasoning maker McCormick.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The deal would merge McCormick with Unilever\u2019s foods businesses and see the US firm hand over nearly $16bn in cash up front.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unilever and its shareholders would take a 65 per cent stake in the new company.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since the talks over a sale were announced, analysts had been speculating about the complexity of the deal because McCormick is a far smaller company than Unilever\u2019s food arm.<\/p>\n

Unilever said: \u201cWork remains ongoing to agree and finalise a transaction and it is possible that an agreement could be concluded today, although there can be no certainty that a transaction will be agreed.\u201d
The company spun off<\/a> its ice cream business \u2013 which included Magnum and Ben & Jerry\u2019s \u2013 last year but chose to list in Amsterdam, in a blow to the London Stock Exchange.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Felix Armstrong
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday 31 March 2026 9:42 am Unilever’s merger comes as it faces pressure to slim down FTSE 100 giant Unilever has placed a global freeze on hiring for at least three months as the Iran war wreaks havoc on global supply chains and fuel prices. The London-based business, which owns Dove soap and Hellman\u2019s mayonnaise<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":898053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[302,31070],"tags":[7638,43483],"class_list":{"0":"post-898052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-freezes","8":"category-unilever","9":"tag-freezes","10":"tag-unilever"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=898052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/898053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}