Unilever is a global company which aims, through its products, to serve the consumer at every level. Its products include washing powder, shampoo and toothpaste, teas, ice cream, oils and spreads. You will undoubtedly have some of their brands in your cupboard - Persil, Birds Eye, Walls Ice Cream, Liptons Teas to name a few.
In the UK, the company operates from sites across the country, both in manufacturing and corporate centres, as well as research establishments. The employees at these companies were all paid by local payroll offices. In summary, this amounted to over 17,000 employees being paid from 20 sites in a total of 44 payrolls.
In the summer of 2000, the National Finance Director had created a business case for the creation of a single UK Payroll, and IT Bites Ltd was invited to manage the project through the full life cycle.