Mercer : Everything you need to know

Headquarters Address: 1166 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10036, USA
Revenue: $5.2 billion (2021)
Size (employees): 25,000+
Global Locations: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, UK, USA, Venezuela
Expertise: Consulting, communication, compensation and benefits, financial wellness, employee health, human capital, human resources, investments, mergers and acquisitions, pension risk, outsourcing, workforce management
Key People: Martine Ferland (president & CEO)

About Mercer
Mercer is a global business of Marsh & McLennan, an international professional services firm that focuses on risk, strategy, and people. It offers advice and digital solutions to help organisations develop their risk management strategy and meet the health, wealth, and career needs of their employees.

Mercer’s health business helps public and private companies in designing and managing healthcare programmes for their employees. Its advice and solutions include total health and wellness management strategies, vendor performance and audit, global health brokerage solutions, life and disability management, and measurement of healthcare provider performance.

The company’s wealth business helps clients design defined benefit, defined contribution, and hybrid retirement plans. Its services include investment advice, retirement plan outsourcing, and related services to the sponsors and trustees of pension plans, foundations, master trusts, endowments, and insurers as well as wealth management and other financial intermediary companies.

Its career business helps organisations in engaging, managing, and rewarding their employees. It also helps companies in designing executive numeration programmes, improving human resource (HR) effectiveness, improving employee strategies during business transformation, and implementing digital and cloud-based HR information systems through Mercer Career Digital.

History of Mercer
Mercer was established in 1945 to provide actuarial and benefits consulting services. In 1959, global professional services firm Marsh & McLennan Companies acquired Mercer and merged it with its employee benefits department. Over the years, Mercer has expanded through organic growth and acquisitions and continued to provide insights and solutions to clients in 130 markets worldwide.

In 2019, the company launched Mercer Money, a digital financial wellness app that allows employees to manage their finances in one place. It provides a real-time view of current accounts, savings, investments, mortgages, pensions, debt, and property values.

In 2020, Mercer launched a complimentary financial wellbeing resource hub to help companies and their people handle the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The website provides free practical information for companies to help their employees maintain financial security, including current and emerging best practices in financial wellbeing benefits and approaches.

In the same year, the company also launched an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that helps defined benefits (DB) pension schemes to predict the outcome of a member option exercise. The platform, which is the first in the industry, determines the probability of a member accepting a tailored offer.

Leadership at Mercer

Martine Ferland – President and CEO
Ferland is the president and CEO of Mercer and the vice-chairman of Marsh & McLennan, the parent company of Mercer.

Before being named the president and CEO of Mercer, Ferland served as the group president of Mercer – leading regions and global business solutions. She also served as the president of Mercer’s Europe and Pacific region, delivering consistent profitable growth in the institutional investment space and expanding the company through strategic acquisitions.

Before joining Mercer, she spent 25 years with Willis Towers Watsons and held senior leadership positions in Asia and North America.

Culture at Mercer
Mercer gives back to local communities through the Mercer Cares BRG, a global programme that encourages Mercer employees to volunteer. Its employees have access to year-round opportunities to participate in mentorship and community-focused volunteering initiatives, with the help of clients and non-profit organisations. The company recognises employees who help local communities by rewarding them through volunteer recognition programmes.

With the assistance of Marsh & McLennan, Mercer Cares partners with non-profit organisations to create and implement initiatives that focus on education and disaster preparedness and recovery. It also supports the Red Cross and the Red Crescent Network worldwide.