Tries to make an impact but impeded by redundancies
Pros
Large MNC with different roles available to explore and suit interest. People are generally friendly and you have access to senior management for feedback. Most senior level Exco are high in calibre and Mercer is considered best amongst its competitors so far. Refocus on NOI in last few years under CEO Julio means real results count towards actual profit and this is shared to the local contributors via bonuses. Exco in general makes bold decisions that are game changers but due to size of company and legacy, the culture of execution doesn't seem to trickle down fast enough. Also this is impeded by weak technology strength to execute vision in a savvy manner. Great place to work if you are looking for work life balance. I rarely do overtime and there is great flexibility in working from home if the job role allows.
Cons
Doesn't follow its own advice that it dishes out to clients on talent practices which is disappointing. Mercer's local HR is weak with basic things like onboarding, basic employee policy guidelines non existent or vague. Comp and Ben are below market rate as it doesn't even refer to the comp and Ben data it sells clients! Sometimes I wonder if the HR actually knows what it is doing but this could be true because I am in a non-US location where HR seems weaker. Despite so, my office is actually pretty large at 300 pax. Heard that things are different in the U.S. where they have their act together. Internal transfers across country, across businesses or sister companies slow due to HR weak capability. The business leaders on the other hand act much faster. Doesn't have a it's ok to fail mentality so everything especially innovation moves along very slowly. This is impeded by PowerPoint overkill. Everything needs approval which requires a detailed PowerPoint explaining everything. I understand the need to consider carefully before making the right investment, but using PowerPoint templates throughout is plain silly. PowerPoint is not meant to be used for every type of documentation which defeats the purpose. PowerPoint sometimes have so much detail resulting in thousand word slides at font 8 which results in the time wasted formatting. The IT support function is terribly weak and doesn't have a business mindset. It acts in a pure operational mode but not far sighted enough to make bold decisions. It is also in a difficult position due to Mercer multi acquisitions globally in the past meant it has hundreds of different systems to consider when making any technology change. Imagine we were using Microsoft 2003 OS right up to 2012 so change is really that slow which is frustrating to the employee. Or consider this, where companies everywhere are starting to use corporate iPhones due to improved user experience and productivity. For Mercer, due to an overhyped fear of security compromise and a perceived increase in cost, Mercer still sticks to blackberries. It speaks volumes of a company that does not regard employee productivity as a priority even if the increase in cost is minimal. Externally, the offerings are getting weaker should it involve any IT. Even though investment has been made to jazz this up, the design of user interface and lack of logic in some apps just doesn't cut it to today's standards. It gets worse when it is obvious that other companies are disrupting the space with faster innovation. The next 5 years will be crucial for Mercer should it want to succeed in the long run against new players. In essence, business leaders are strong but if internal functions especially HR and IT are weak, it goes to show that investment in people is weak on a training and retention basis as well as a productivity basis.
