Our team collaborates on pressing issues facing the industry, such as planning and preparing for the impact of the energy transition and ESG on the workforce, driving improved performance through redesigned rewards philosophies and incentives, working buy and sell side for M&A transactions, identifying and sourcing new skills for future industry business models, and providing solutions to help attract, retain, develop and engage diverse teams. Mercer’s energy consultants work with more than 1,500 local, regional and global clients across the energy value chain — E&P, oilfield services and drilling, midstream, downstream, chemicals, mining, power and renewables, and energy trading — to co-create effective human capital strategies and solutions.

People are the engine of every technology company. Mercer’s technology industry experts and consultants partner with the leaders from over 2,500 of the most innovative, high growth technology organizations to power and empower their workforce to drive results for their customers, organization and shareholders alike. Serving as trusted advisors, the industry-leading insights that Mercer’s Technology Vertical provides to our client’s business and human resource leaders allows them to shape their unique business and human capital agendas. Doing so helps our clients anticipate and respond to the workforce impacts arising from industry-related seismic shifts and competitor-led disruption.

The financial services and insurance (FS&I) industry is changing — customers are better-informed, have higher expectations and anticipate a consistent experience regardless of engagement channel. Mercer helps banks, insurers, investment managers, mutual funds, hedge funds and other financial service companies address their most pressing people-related challenges — from building a future-ready workforce to reshaping their investment and retirement outcomes to modernizing health, well-being and benefits programs.

Mercer’s automotive industry practice provides strategic advice and support to over 275 organizations around the globe. Within our auto industry community, we have experts in each major manufacturing location around the world. This team monitors the impact of the seismic shifts taking place in the industry such as electrification, autonomy and mobility, to better understand the impact of these changes on the attraction, retention and motivation of talent. These changes are dramatically affecting the people strategy of all automobile OEMs and suppliers, as well as general manufacturers where the modernization of plants and equipment call for more digital and technologically oriented employees.

Disruption and uncertainty driven by shifting market, demographic, and lifestyle forces are perhaps most prevalent in the Healthcare industry. The viability of current systems of production, delivery, treatment and payment are at risk around the world, regardless of the economic and regulatory models in place. Marsh McLennan helps organizations manage the world’s most important resource – people – by improving healthcare outcomes and long-term financial security. Mercer's Healthcare Provider Industry Practice excels in people strategy, workforce analytics, organization structure, change management, and rewards consulting to find the best path forward for healthcare providers going through this time of dramatic transformation. Given the extraordinary challenges in the healthcare industry, a focus on today AND tomorrow has never been more important. Our number one priority is to provide the best end-to-end strategic plan to drive optimization of human capital across clinical, operating and HR functions.

 An evolving business environment and workforce present unique challenges. Mercer’s retail industry experts are sources of insight and experience for meeting these challenges, helping more than 600 organizations reimagine the world of work to make brighter futures for millions of employees and their communities. Moving forward in a transformed world requires transformative approaches. Our strategic partnerships with the retail industry support the alignment of business and talent agendas around future value creation.

Accessible. Affordable. Competitive benefits delivered simply. 

Designing the right employee benefits package is more challenging than ever. Turn challenges into opportunities with a comprehensive plan that strikes all the right chords. 

Competitive employee benefits

Today’s multigenerational workforce demands benefits that are personalized, creative, digital and flexible. A fresh approach and innovative ideas, such as tying employee benefits to diversity and implementing social responsibility strategies, can help you stand out from the crowd. 

Managing costs and risks

Due to changing government regulations, aging populations and increasingly complex healthcare needs, medical and disability costs are on the rise. The added complication of new privacy regulations can make managing benefits programs challenging. Employers are looking for creative solutions to gain value from their benefits investment and improve health management for their employees. 

Simplified program delivery

Looking to streamline your benefits program delivery and reduce complexity? By providing a more personal, engaging experience, the right digital platform can free up your valuable HR resources. 

For a unified, engaging employee experience, we offer a range of consulting, brokerage and digital solutions designed to improve the employee benefits experience.

Strategy and planning

Stay on top of market trends that matter to you. We’ll help you cut through the noise to develop a winning strategy.

Design and financing

How competitive is your program, and what’s driving costs? Make sure your plan design and financing are up to the task.

Vendor selection and management

Who’s the best partner for your company? Leverage our deep knowledge of the marketplace to find the right fit.

Delivery and communication

Make sure your employees understand the value of their benefits by designing the right level of support to create your best employee experience.

Using health and wellbeing strategies to strengthen your employee value proposition 

Employee health and wellbeing influence productivity, safety, business continuity, business performance and benefit costs. Additionally, disability costs in many markets continue to be driven by stress and musculoskeletal issues. On top of that, the level of stress faced by individuals in their personal and work lives will continue to increase. 

Therefore, it is imperative for companies’ overall strategies to include health and wellbeing as critical elements of talent management, while considering that diverse segments of the workforce will require tailored solutions.

In order to motivate and support employees to engage in healthy behaviors, it is important to recognize that a healthy workforce includes not only investment in prevention, but also a change in the employer and employee mindset regarding overall wellbeing (physical, emotional, financial, social and environmental). In addition to this mindset shift, issues in access to affordable, accessible and quality care need to be addressed as part of the larger strategy.

With over 100 clinicians and other health management resources around the world, MMB provides a range of consulting and other solutions to help employers optimize the health, wellbeing and productivity of their workforce.  

Solutions include: 

• Health and wellbeing strategy and stakeholder engagement including creating a culture of health
• Healthcare (e.g., wellbeing, condition/care management onsite) design, benchmarking and vendor selection/management
• Resiliency, behavioral and mental health
• Absence and disability management
• Return on Investment (ROI) and Value of Investment (VOI) measurement

MMB health solutions help employers improve human performance, which positively impacts overall business results.  

Making employee compensation decisions in complexity

It’s a complicated time to attract and retain talent. When it comes to employee remuneration – a fundamental tool in the workforce rewards toolbox – there are now arguably more factors to consider than at any other time: 

• How do you know you are paying fairly across your geographically diverse locations?
• Are you over- or under-paying against industry standards?
• How do you balance market-wide wage stagnation with compensating becoming a resignation impetus?
• How do you assemble the elements you need to build a market-leading employee rewards program?
• When is the right time to do an employee salary audit?
• Can you justify your employee remuneration decisions?
• What does a good employee rewards strategy look like now?
• Given all the factors in flux, do you need the expertise of a compensation consultant?

The global talent scarcity means your compensation plans need not only to be robust, but stand out – locally, regionally, and across the world.   

Total Remuneration Membership Program = global employee compensation data and services

Mercer Total Remuneration Membership Program enhances the value of the information services we provide. 

Being a member enables you to enjoy the benefits of an unmatched discount, and a personal and privileged relationship in which your success is the ultimate outcome.

Your choices :

1. Complete access to the entire global database, and the TRS Global Membership Package is offering a discount of over 50%! Or
2. Choose a flexible TRS Regional Package, including countries of your choice.

Benefits of Mercer’s Total Remuneration Membership Program: 

• Access the largest and highest quality employee compensation resource with special pricing arrangements.
• Move away from typical "vendor relationships" and enjoy the benefits of a true partnership with your information supplier.
• Global administration and coordination of participation, invoicing, and delivery.
• A dedicated client relationship manager to act as a single point of contact, plus local contacts where desired.
• Attendance at annual meetings with an opportunity to network with colleagues addressing similar issues.
• Webcast "refresher courses" on Mercer Data Connector – our online survey participation application tool and Mercer WIN® – our online data analysis and survey results delivery tool.

Looking for a salary survey specific to your industry?

Mercer’s industry experts continually evaluate market challenges and trends, delivering fresh perspectives and innovative approaches to address your most pressing people challenges. Our combined experience, industry insights, comprehensive data and analytical capabilities help organizations customize their strategies to achieve their goals and deliver successful outcomes.

When you need to go deep into your industry, we can. Mercer specialize in employee compensation and benefits benchmarking, analytics, and insights with everything from market pay surveys through to custom analysis. We have exceptional insights into specific industries, including:

• Agriculture
• Automotive
• Consumer Goods
• Digital
• Education 
• Energy
• Financial Services
• High-Tech
• Life Sciences
• Logistics
• Shared Services
• Media & Entertainment
• Professional Services
• Real Estate
• Retail

Diversity, inclusion and the people agenda

The people agenda has become a prominent piece of every strategy discussion. No doubt policies and benefits have been updated constantly over the last couple of years to keep in-line with the changing circumstances.

ESG still remains high on leadership agenda – after all, a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) commitment is only as strong they are tracked and measured. With a lingering economic challenge ahead and coupled with the war for talent, there is increasing emphasis on the employee experience and culture. It may be the difference between a good and great organization to work and stay for.

Assessing the workforce landscape change with insights and data

According to Mercer’s 2022 Global Talent Trends Study, 33% of organizations already have a role designed to focus on DEI, with another 44% indicating that they plan to add this role in the future. Interestingly, 85% of companies are planning to co-creating new employee experiences with their people.

A goal without a plan is just a wish. To get your organization ready for the year ahead, assess your existing people strategy and create a culture of development and continuous improvement.

An all-in-one talent assessment solution

Mercer Talent Assessments is a cloud-based talent assessment platform for hiring and skill development. This robust performance platform is tailored to your organization and includes holistic evaluations based on psychometric assessments (personality, behavior, cognitive and aptitude) and technical assessments (IT and non-IT skills and digital readiness) as well as stringent information security. Mercer Talent Assessments is also a reliable platform that supports the multi-rater or 360° feedback process.

This platform caters to a wide range of experience levels and hiring methods:

• Build a tailored assessment portfolio.
• Choose from a variety of question formats and coding simulators.
• Leverage one million+ questions for scalable solutions.
• Use custom report templates to get the data you need.
• Discover a wide range of tailored solutions for skill-gap analysis, high-potential identification, succession planning, leadership development and training effectiveness.

Mercer Talent Assessments is a high-capacity platform, supported in 27+ languages, and is ISO27001 and ISO9001 certified.

Our approach to talent assessment

Mercer proposes a strategic and integrated assessment approach. This means considering the different phases of the talent management strategy and integrating them in a continuous iteration process that places people at the center in relation to business needs and corporate strategies. This process feeds the pipeline for current and future critical skills and roles and directs resources toward targeted growth, allowing you to steer your company toward success.

We leverage data and analytics to measure individual and organization success. Our strategic and integrated approach consists of four main steps:

Embark > 

Phase: Envision and articulate the future vision of skills.

Focus: What’s the real business challenges we’re trying to solve with this shift – from and employer and an employee perspective?

Discover > 

Phase: Understand the current state through research insights and benchmarks.

Focus: Where is the work going right and wrong from a productivity and an employee experience perspective?

Shape > 

Phase: Create bold solutions with measurable outcomes toward the future state skill vision.

Focus: What changes to work will simultaneously improve productivity and the employee experience of work?

Drive > 

Phase: Deliver sustainable results and bake the skill transformation into the fabric of the organization. 

Focus: How do we create a way of working that’s productive, compelling and sustainable?

Executive reward drivers have expanded

Tying purpose-based goals to financial rewards push leaders to be accountable for their behaviors and actions to help create a better society. Shareholders, employees, and society want executive compensation to expand to encompass rewards for such initiatives as improving diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), embracing a stakeholder (rather than a stockholder) mindset, and actions to support environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) – in addition to the traditional financial and operational results executive rewards have always emphasized.

Integrating financial, ESG, and ESG concerns into your executive compensation program helps build an agile rewards infrastructure. This will enable you to attract, retain, and motivate global and local executive talent who can thrive during disruption.

How we help

Mercer’s executive compensation consultants are trusted advisors to senior management of public and private companies and boards of directors. We provide best-in-class expertise in executive and director compensation and benefits, pay-for-performance alignment, and corporate governance – all of which are grounded in market and industry practices and are customized for your business.

Our expert consulting and comprehensive database helps you shape and implement your executive compensation programs to:

• Improve your ability to attract, retain, and motivate key executive talent
• Align pay with your organization’s strategic needs and relevant talent comparators
• Realize the value in ownership transactions
• Stay compliant with regulatory, legislative, and shareholder requirements and guidelines
• Provide transparency and flexibility to customize rewards in purpose-driven ways

Our approach

Mercer’s approach to executive compensation features:

COLLABORATION AND MULTIPLE VIEWPOINTS

Our consultants bring knowledge and experience to provide counsel – not just data. We consider shareholder, board member, company, and employee perspectives along with external and competitive realities.

GLOBAL REACH

With a global reach of more than 130 countries, our executive compensation consultants offer the expertise needed to keep rewards and compensation strategies consistent across all markets.

EVIDENCE-BASED DECISION MAKING

Gain access to our best-in-class resources, including: global data, regulatory, legal and accounting research, governance and shareholder relations, and guidance from our executive benefits consulting group.

OBJECTIVITY AND INTEGRITY

To ensure objectivity, integrity, and quality, we have established Global Business Standards to manage potential conflicts of interest inherent in advising boards of directors and management on executive compensation.

Why Mercer?

With deep roots and expertise in HR, rewards, and data and analytics, Mercer provides executive compensation services to clients in all major industry sectors. Our team includes compensation consultants across the globe, and a dedicated team of legal professionals and governance experts who stay informed on regulatory matters from proxy advisor and institutional shareholder viewpoints and activities.

Our executive compensation consultants will help you achieve measurable impact on performance, efficiency, and risk management. We actively work with you to develop cash and equity compensation programs. We also help manage the growing complexity of regulations, legislation, and stakeholder demands.

Challenges:

• Misaligned business and HR strategy
• Business not equipped for the future shape of work
• Employee exhaustion given blended work and personal lives
• Low HR effectiveness and efficiency

Transforming for the future 

The world of work is changing at light speed. The COVID-19 pandemic has proved that unexpected events can upend the world in an instant. During these fast-evolving times, successful organizations will embrace transformation, explore new ways of working and reinvent their employee experiences in the new and blended work environment.

Mercer helps organizations stay ahead of the curve by creating a sustainable competitive advantage and aligning transformation efforts with their culture, purpose and values — providing a path to progress towards environmental, governance and social (ESG) goals . By developing new workforce capabilities and increasing agility, companies can drive performance and business results.

A transformation journey presents an opportunity to inspire and connect various stakeholders. Effective change management ensures that everyone is equipped for the change and connected to a shared future vision

Disruption and change are here to stay. Intense competition, ever-increasing shareholder expectations and digital innovations are driving leaders to rethink strategy. The result is an urgent need to adapt that in turn fuels increased inorganic transformation through deals.

At the same time, increasing complexity and cross-border dynamics make it difficult to realize value in M&A strategies. Speed becomes paramount to success.  

Prioritizing people risks

The success of an acquisition increasingly depends on prioritizing people risk. Our research shows that 60% of deals fail due to workforce issues. Organizations need to address this risk at the initiation of any acquisition process — at target identification and during due diligence — and with the same strategic focus that goes into analyzing the financial risks.

The Mercer difference in mergers and acquisitions

What differentiates us is our deal experts, who understand how to maximize value, mitigate risks and moderate costs to create sustainable value across all human capital levers. Our exceptional ability to translate people risks into measurable financial and operational outcomes has transformed business for hundreds of our clients. We have the deal and subject matter expertise to advise our clients and partner with them to implement the right strategies.

Mercer advises clients in:

Strategy and readiness

Anticipate the spectrum of people risks and strategies to address them given your strategic goals.

Due diligence

Conduct in-depth analysis on workforce issues to identify any material risks to purchase price, strategic objectives or integration.

Pre-close planning

Execute rigorous governance and planning to ensure business continuity on Day One as well as longer-term integration success.

Post-close

Drive deal success by effectively implementing Day One plans and monitoring results to maximize value.

OUR EXPERTISE:

Workforce strategy

Determine critical roles and the talent needed to drive success. Formulate workforce strategies to address any gaps.

Operating model

Develop your future strategy and operating model, including organization design, governance and decision rights.

Talent assessment, retention and onboarding

Maximize deal success by assessing talent, identifying and selecting leaders, and retaining critical employees.

Change management and communications

Conduct change management planning and integration focused on moving key stakeholders from both entities.

Culture

Identify cultural risks to deal objectives, and build a comprehensive integration strategy and operating environment.

Talent Insights

An AI-based approach to understand skills, identify risks, and retention implications pre-close, and develop post-close talent strategies.

HR technologies

Create the needed HR delivery platform to support strategic objectives.

Global benefits and policies

Understand, align and optimize benefits programs in more than 150 countries and organizations of all sizes.

Rewards

Determine whether executive, sales and broad-based incentives align with achievement of synergies.

Retirement

Understand, align and optimize pension plans and associated risk globally.

In times of financial distress, leaders face tremendous pressure to restructure their businesses — preserving stakeholder value, business continuity and jobs. Successful turnarounds require both a financial restructuring and operational recovery.

Aligning human capital strategy with strategic objectives is crucial for success. Workforce risk analysis must happen at the beginning of the restructuring process rather than as an afterthought. This analysis needs the same strategic focus as stabilizing the operations and defining the turnaround strategy.

The Mercer difference in restructuring and turnaround

Mercer is a leader in advising distressed companies on how to mitigate risks, maximize value and moderate costs to create sustainable value throughout the restructuring and turnaround process. Our exceptional ability to translate people risks into measurable outcomes has transformed business for hundreds of distressed clients. From uncovering cost savings to formulating strategies to implementing and accelerating rapid change — we can help you create sustainable value in all human capital aspects of your turnaround.

OUR EXPERTISE:

Workforce strategy

Analyze workforce costs and determine how to assess, plan for and execute alternative strategies to manage expenses.

Operating model

Design an enterprise-wide operating model to deliver on the turnaround strategy.

Talent Insights

An AI-based approach to understand skills, identify risks, and retention implications pre-close, and develop post-close talent strategies.

Talent Retention

Develop a retention strategy for key employees.

Rewards

Determine whether executive, sales and broad-based incentives align with achievement of synergies.

Global benefits and policies

Understand, align and optimize benefits programs in more than 150 countries and organizations of all sizes.

Retirement

Understand, align and optimize pension plans and associated risk globally.

Rapid change acceleration

Develop communication strategies that address employee concerns and drive stability across the business.

Challenges: 

• Unrealized value potential due to limitations in human capital strategy
• Lack of information on HR readiness going into the close
• Not enough attention paid to skill sets and redundancies
• No framework for identifying and delivering high-impact quick wins early in the hold
• Waiting too long to upgrade HR leadership and develop a roadmap
• Not linking HR to the deal journey
• Ignoring the people risks and factors that derail deals and interfere with value creation

Evolved private-equity HR support goes beyond due diligence to maximize deal value 

Our private-equity advisory services go beyond core diligence to inform, operationalize and continuously refine short- and long-term strategies. We do this by delivering high-impact quick wins designed to unlock value creation potential through the use of human capital.

Delivering the deal by mitigating risks and removing factors that can derail a project 

With Mercer’s private equity advisory expertise, you can mitigate risk and deliver on the deal proposition.

47% of deals fail primarily due to people risks

44% of executives report that workforce risks were not quantified or built into the financial model

21% report the leadership team as the primary cause the financial targets outlined in the deal model are not met

20% increase in sales

21% greater profitability

Mercer’s value proposition 

No other advisor (or broker) can match Mercer’s global reach — our ability to execute, or the depth and breadth of our transactional human capital expertise. We have a unique perspective because our global human capital platform supports our analysis throughout the investment hold period. With 25,000+ subject matter experts in more than 140 countries, we can address any people, HR compliance or technical need.

Executing project management with a higher level of rigor and precision

The success of any merger or acquisition requires a flawless process and a deep understanding of critical business issues from multiple perspectives. Mercer has proven capabilities in providing project management from an enterprise level, coordinating the legal, IT, and finance functions. Mercer is unequalled in providing real-world execution across the entire HR domain, from payroll and benefits to HR technology and platforms.

Sellers and buyers — two very different timelines

With today’s overwhelming demand for smart investments, sellers have the advantage. Mercer’s global footprint and extensive experience allow us to mobilize resources and execute deals within an aggressive timeframe — often enabling sellers to achieve higher multiples.

Heightened competition means buyers often have to commit without performing adequate due diligence, mitigating risk, determining compliance issues, or fully developing post-merger integration plans. Mercer’s project-management operations (PMO) bring to bear a full range of capabilities that allows buyers to act and react to today’s deal dynamics, swiftly and with confidence.

Day One readiness

The gap between strategy and execution becomes intensely evident on Day One. Mercer provides on-the-ground experts who ensure Day One readiness across the entire HR domain, including payroll, benefits, executive and employee compensation, and sales force remuneration, as well as HR platforms and technology. Day One readiness will help financial buyers maintain the new entity’s value, while assuring long-term success for corporate buyers.

A fluid approach

Mercer has the unique ability to structure our PMO services to your organization’s exact needs. We can perform an over-the-shoulder role, provide resources to bolster in-house capabilities, or manage the entire project from start to finish, leveraging proven processes and experience from thousands of transactions. We provide frictionless execution for buyers and sellers, for both financial and corporate clients.