Matt Dubow

When I first walked onto the Penn State campus as a freshman my head was dizzied by the limitless opportunities before me. As I became a more seasoned undergraduate, I began to become more aware of my potential in areas I had never even considered before, both as a consumer in the grocery store and as a young professional at our career fairs. How were my dollars being used in this economy? Was I becoming part of the global economic, social, and environmental problems or rather contributing to companies who were creating a solution? These same concerns were easily paralleled in my employment search as I scoured for a company that shared the same values and beliefs, one I found in Reckitt Benckiser.

The question posed in this blog’s subject may seem plainly obvious to some, however to the average college student, RB may just be another company on their laundry list of potential employers. It is important that college students come to know RB in a multitude of dimensions. Initially, they must grow to be smart, aware consumers who view their purchases as investments into their personal lives. In this sense college students should be researching and exploring their options in household, personal, and healthcare categories. As a smart consumer you are not only taking an active mindset in regard to your finances, but become aware of the innovation, philanthropy, and culture provided by your supplying companies.

With their respective market leading positions, the Reckitt Benckiser Powerbrands will undoubtedly provide many of the solutions these consumers search for. It is easy to find excuses to pick RB’s products off the shelf. Philanthropic programs such as the Carbon20 effort and aggressive sustainability benchmarks, to their product innovation and value, many college students will find themselves establishing life long relationships with RB products.

Additionally college students who explore career options in the FMCG industry would be foolish to overlook Reckitt Benckiser. The company’s culture and core values suggest that with the right fit, young professionals are given international opportunities to not only prove themselves but move through their career at an accelerated pace. If you were to research one of RB’s 19 market leading Powerbrands you would find a history of innovation, value, and a proven track record. Behind the scenes RB associates live the values of achievement, entrepreneurship, team spirit, and ownership that create and drive the culture of the company.

The challenges presented to college graduates within the workplace are demanding, yet the rewards of success are reaped both professionally and personally.

What are your opinions? As students, consumers, and professionals how are you taking strides to improve the world we live in? How do you see RB innovating its social and environmental programs in the future? I am greatly intrigued to hear how everyone is working, whether its on campus, in an office, with Reckitt Benckiser, or on their own. Are you taking the initiative and challenging the status quo?

Welcome to my first blog. Quick introduction to me, I work in Supply and joined RB as a Supply Planner in the Materials department at Belle Mead which is one of the biggest manufacturing plants in USA.

Project Nolan

Since the first day I joined RB, I was entrusted with immense responsibility and given authority for my work. It’s training-on-the-go, you have to learn quickly and I enjoy the fast paced culture and the everyday challenges RB provides. Before I knew it, I was a part of an important product launch- Nolan. Now, what’s Nolan? It is the new generation of instant air fresheners that use 100% natural propellant. It produces less carbon footprint and it is environmental friendly.
So, the launch date was fixed but a lot of  pieces still had to come in place. When you work in a plant, it is easier said than done. You have to assume the worst case scenario and aim for the best case results. The existing aerosol manufacturing line had to undergo a complete changeover for the new product. From Supply point of view, Engineering, R&D, Operations, Quality and Materials were all geared up for a ramp up. The team was aware this project was top priority and everyone involved gave it their best shot. I enjoyed the detailed team meeting every single day, where we found a solution to almost every problem! It was a perfect example of commitment. We were all geared up and prepared for the launch.
Needless to say, everything went well, the ramp up was excellent and we met all our customer service demands in a timely manner. The hard work was clearly visible and so was the sweet smell of Nolan success.

Product of the Year Award

After a couple of months, we got to know that Nolan won “Product of the year” award. The award function was held in New York City and to add to the celebration, we went in a chauffeur driven super stretch limousine! While we all drove together, we recalled the project implementation, the challenges and the successful outcome. We all thoroughly enjoyed the night!
Overall, I strongly believe it was the great teamwork here at RB that led to this perfect launch, what do you think?

.Stress [stress] noun

Origin: 1275–1325; (n.) ME stresse, aph. var. of distresse distress; (v.) deriv. of the n.

Physiological Definition : a specific response by the body to a stimulus, as fear or pain, that disturbs or interferes with the normal physiological equilibrium of an organism

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Between getting the numbers on your net revenue trackers right, pulling out your hair to meet your month-end figure, and endlessly hounding down your clients to order a new line by close of business, stress levels at RB can often escalate before you’ve even had a chance to grab your morning coffee.

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Luckily, the combination of being a “graduate”, working on certain accounts and the overall Team Spirit that encompasses RB really does assist in “stress-management” and ensures you don’t get piled under in work! And if you don’t believe me, the proof in just the last month below doesn’t lie.

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Metcash Expo 2010

The Metcash Expo is the biggest event in the independent retail calendar, with the theme of

this years RB stand featuring “Kath and Kim” showcasing the new “Bamercise” Easy off Bam promotion amongst other new products for 2010.

This week in the Gold Coast, Queensland was a fantastic platform for RB to both promote the company as well as understand how key competitors were planning on positioning themselves for 2011.

It was also a great development opportunity for myself as I was able to assist with planning of the event, networking with clients, retailers and competitors as well as attend some extremely fun dinners and functions for Metcash.

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Strepsils Cool Ice Rink

A few weeks ago was the opening of the Sydney Winter Festival in the backdrop of the majestic St Marys Cathedral in the CBD. The ice-rink at the festival was sponsored by the Strepsils team to promote our newest cough cold line, Strepsils Cool.

Thanks to my hard work driving Strepsils Cool through the Petrol & Convenience channel, I was lucky enough to receive an invite to visit the alpine region, where a large Reckitts group enjoyed endless ice skating, mulled wine, and definitely a few laughs over a few minor falls on the ice!

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City to Surf

Yet another event that was enjoyed only a couple of days ago was RB’s participation in the longest fun-run in the world – Sydney’s City to Surf. The toughest of the toughest RB employees got together to defeat the 14km run from the CBD down to the shores of Bondi Beach as well as use the opportunity to raise some money for RB’s biggest charity, Save the Children.

The event really was a fabulous opportunity to mingle with the people you don’t see every day, and push the ones you do to make it to the finish line! Wearing our sponsored “Finish Quantum” singlet tops we raced down to Bondi, and spent the rest of the lazy Sunday afternoon at a private RB after party sipping wine, eating tapas and enjoying massages overlooking the shores!

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As you can see, it can often be stressful working as an Analyst at RB. The hours are not always easy and neither is the work. But when it comes down to it, the best stress-management is having a great group of motivated people to work with..

You can negotiate deals all day long, but the rewarding events really do sweeten them just a bit more…

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As you may have read in my Tweets recently, October 23 was the New Technologies Group away day.
We visited a nature reserve and spent the day helping the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and the North Carr Conservation Group with maintenance of the reserve.

It was a day of extremely tough manual labour – its hard to dig up the roots of invasive pond plants when your movement is restricted by being waist deep in mud – but it felt good to have achieved something worthwhile.
It will be good to return to the site next summer to see how the rare, indigenous wildlife has flourished as a result of our work.

Here is a newsletter we have received from The NCCG about the day.

Edd

Hi everybody! I’m back here to talk about the environment again. In one of my recent posts on this blog I wrote about OHOP ( Our Home Our Planet) .
The OHOP initiative is RBs front-facing consumer communication part of a global commitment to tackle climate change. If you want to read more about it, go
to my last post, and you will find a lot of information
related to this topic.

But back to Carbon 20 . RB’s “Carbon20” programme was launched in 2007 and its main purpose is to reduce RB products’ impact on climate change by 20% by 2020.
But this programme is not similar to others, which target
the ‘easy wins’ of energy reduction in factories and travel.
It has a different approach, as it targets reductions in raw
and packaging materials from suppliers and in consumers’ use and disposal of the company’s products.
RB is worried about the climate change impact of the product’s overall lifecycle.

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RB measures the total lifecycle of its product with an independently assured methodology, developed in conjunction with environmental consultancy, URS, targeting activities both within its own supply chain and manufacturing as well as working with consumers to change their behaviour and adopt lower-carbon routines (OHOP).

And now RB is sharing its methodology with the rest of the industry so we can all tackle climate change effectively. Great isn’t it? I think this is definitely something that businesses need to collaborate on, not compete about.

And more good news was announced last week around the world: ” RB has cut carbon emissions per unit dose by 5.75% in year 1. It means RB is already ahead of its carbon reduction target, achieving 25% of our 2020 goal in the first year”.�
This is something for everybody to be proud of..!
I think its interesting to see that Carbon 20 is not just related to social and environmental benefits, it makes good business sense too. How you say?:

1. More and more consumers want to buy products with lower carbon profiles
2. Retailers want to help consumers to reduce carbon emissions, and want to address their own carbon profiles. They want to work with companies that help them to achieve these
3. Suppliers want to work with responsible businesses, and are also trying to reduce their impact on climate change
4. Most people want to work for a company that acts responsibly in addressing major social and environmental concerns

What we can see is that RB is aligned with all its stakeholders, and working like this, as a team, it will achieve its objective before the deadline!

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This subject is being discussed on various websites.

At Linked In the following question is being asked:  Can corporate social responsibility success make a company more appealing to graduates and early career professionals?
In my opinion, the current generation of young professionals were created in a society concerned with environmental issues and their possible impacts in the future. Thus, working in a socially responsible company is to be updated, and to present ethical values compatible with most young professionals.

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Now I want to hear your opinion about this topic. And if you have any doubt, please, write me back, and I’ll answer as soon as I read it!
If you want to check out what people think about the CSR issue, access this link (you have to be a member of Linked In to see it):
Pati