From the beginning, Mercer has been in the business of putting people's futures first. In 1945, William M. Mercer, Ltd began in Canada and grew to become a premier provider of actuarial and benefits consulting services. Acquired by Marsh & McLennan Companies in 1959 and merged with their own employee benefits department, the firm expanded through growth and acquisition to become a global leader in health, wealth and career.

Breaking down the business

Mercer organizes its business around three key areas: Health, Wealth and Career, each with distinct areas of practice.

Health

Mercer is a leader in the health and benefits marketplace globally. The firm delivers trusted advisory services, brokerage and innovative solutions that help employers and their employees improve the quality, cost and experience of healthcare. Whether a small business, a domestic employer, or a large multinational firm, Mercer can deliver custom health and benefits solutions that meet unique client needs. Mercer provides access to local market experts as well as national and international resources that advise on regulatory compliance and innovative strategies across health benefits, pharmacy, network providers and population health. Outside of North America, Mercer’s health business goes to market with its Marsh & McLennan Companies sister company, Marsh, as “Mercer Marsh Benefits”.  In 2017 Mercer concluded the acquisition of Thomsons Online Benefits which through its market leading Darwin platform provides benefits management solutions.

Wealth

Mercer is the world's largest institutional investment advisor with over $11trn in assets under advice and more than $200bn in open architecture assets under delegated management. The firm is also a global leader in the provision of actuarial and related services. Its Wealth business provides services to clients in four broad areas:

Defined Contribution (DC) & Financial Wellness - DC Plans are now the primary source of retirement income for many individuals.  Mercer's consultants work with clients to develop retirement and financial wellness strategies that support desired business and employee outcomes.  They advise sponsors on improving employee outcomes, investments, governance and management of fiduciary risk through the firm's delegated DC offerings.

Defined Benefit (DB) -Wealth consultants help clients understand the holistic view of both the assets and liabilities within their pension plan.  The firm's innovative strategies help clients to take advantage of market opportunities and execute both asset and liability transactions efficiently.  Wealth consultants work with clients in both an advice and delegated capacity.

Not for Profit- As a trusted advisor and recognized industry leader, Mercer's not-for-profit business advises endowments, foundations, health care organization and private family offices clients on essential investment strategy decisions appropriate to their mission and spending requirements. Mercer has extensive research and implementation capabilities across hedge funds, real assets, private equity, real estate, equities and fixed income. 

Wealth Management - Mercer's wealth management consultants help their clients by providing extensive capital market and manager selection research capabilities. Its clients include wire-houses, RIA's, investment banks, regional banks, insurers and TAMPs. The firm's global expertise can be accessed via desktop tools, tailored advice from its experienced consultants as well as via customized, white labeled multi-manager funds. 

Career

Mercer's Career business provides products and services to clients in four broad areas:

Communication & Change - Mercer's dedicated Communication practice supports its work in the areas of careers and talent, as well as in relation to communicating wellness programs, employee benefits and wealth management strategies. Clients also often come to Mercer for its change capabilities in support of organizational changes and technology implementations - areas which all practices touch on. In 2016 Mercer acquired Sirota Consulting LLC (Sirota), a global provider of employee engagement solutions offering organizational assessments, surveys, technology, and analytics. And in 2017, it acquired Jason Associates, a Portuguese company specializing in talent-related solutions, including leader and employee engagement and communication, change and transformation, talent development, and HR technology and gamification

HR functional excellence and enterprise (HR and Finance) digitization - Mercer's HR Transformation and Digital practices help organizations improve the way HR operates by transforming people processes and practices. As an implementation partner for Workday, ServiceNow and SuccessFactors, Mercer is committed to transforming its clients' businesses in a sustainable way to ensure they get the most out of their cloud platform investment. In 2017 Mercer acquired Promerit AG, an German HR consultancy, specializing in business transformation, HR transformation and change, and digitization. And in 2018 it acquired everBe, the market leader in France for providing Workday implementation services.

Rewards - Rewards is a critical aspect of the employee value proposition, and Mercer has two practices - Executive Rewards and Workforce Rewards - focused on helping clients with their rewards programs, from getting the right people into the business to having the right compensation strategy to effectively engage, align and retain them.

Talent management - Mercer's Talent Strategy and Mobility practices help clients forecast their talent needs and devise strategies to build and leverage talent. In 2018, Mercer acquired Evolve Intelligence, a Melbourne-based talent strategy business  and leader in people-focused data , intelligence and solutions.

The company's extended offerings include a dedicated M&A business, which is part of its Multinational Client Group.