To help you chart your company's compensation course for the coming year, Mercer has organized a wealth of easy-to-access information to help you create a strategy that rewards and develops the talent most critical to driving your 2004 business performance.

Mercer's Steve Gross helps you chart a course from survival mode to future prosperity in our 10-minute web presentation. You can access the presentation and supporting material in several ways:

• Web viewing: If your computer is programmed for Macromedia Flash and equipped for sound, we invite you to watch the 10-minute presentation at your convenience.
  
  
• Downloadable version: You can download the PDF version which features the presentation slides with the narrative.
  
  
• 2003/2004 US Compensation Planning Survey:Our recent survey of 1,700 organizations is part of the basis for the analysis in the web program. You can download an executive summary of the survey results or buy a complete survey report (US$75 for participants, US$225 for non-participants).
  
  
• Measuring the US Return on Reward Investments SnapShot Survey: Mercer has completed a new online survey to learn how companies measure the return on their reward investments. You can review results of of this new survey and previous surveys on our SnapShot survey site.
  
  
• Perspective: Mercer's latest publication, written by Steve Gross and Loree Griffith analyzes the current US compensation trends. 

 Contact Steve Gross with questions  

 Read the Charting a Course Toward Growth Perspective

 Read our press release on the 2003/2004 US survey results

 View last year's web program on the 2002/2003 US Compensation Planning Survey 

Global compensation planning survey report – 2004 edition

Mercer's Global Compensation Planning Survey Report examines economic, employment, and pay trends in 63 countries worldwide. Data on projected pay comes from a survey of multinational companies, while inflation data is mostly collected from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). You can buy a copy of the report for US$600.

 Learn more or purchase global compensation survey report  (free registration required)

 Register at mercerHR.com

Mercer's new book: Play to Your Strengths

Play to Your Strengths gives business leaders an entirely new, yet proven approach to measure and manage the value of their workforce on business results – achieved entirely from within their own organizations. Underpinned by extensive Mercer Human Resource Consulting research and examples of companies that have adopted this approach and consequently got “it” right, Play to Your Strengths explains how to create and execute workforce strategies that are as valuable to the business as business strategies themselves.

Through this new science, companies are now beginning to understand the causal connections between workforce practices and measurable business outcomes – and consequently, realize significant, long-term economic and competitive gains.

The book will be available online and in bookstores on 15 October 2003.

 Learn more about the new Mercer book

 Read excerpts from Mercer's recent book: Paying for Performance

Designing a work force architecture for merger success

During Plum Creek Timber Company's recent merger with The Timber Company, previously a division of Georgia Pacific, it became clear that major differences in the two companies' rewards programs had the potential to diminish the value of the deal. The companies had incompatible job titles and levels (one company had six grade levels while the other had 20) and widely divergent eligibility requirements for incentive compensation and base pay increases. There was no methodology in place to address these structural differences or connect the various HR processes.

To remedy the problem definitively, Plum Creek launched the biggest human resource change management effort in company history. Working with Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Plum Creek developed a companywide framework that integrates all aspects of the company's people management processes.

 Read the article

 Review Mercer's M&A approach 

Effective performance management practices: Ten ways to improve your results

Conventional wisdom says organizations seem generally dissatisfied with their performance management systems. To better understand their perceptions and practices, Mercer surveyed over 300 North American companies, half of which operate in more than ten countries.

While there may be no “silver bullet” or quick fix for enhancing performance management, there are specific steps you can take to maximize its effectiveness. Mercer’s research and its consulting experience with top performing companies indicate that ten design principles will lead to better results.

 Read the article

No more blue Mondays: Managing pay to drive performance

Although organizations may think they have a pay for performance environment, in actuality, they may not have a pay system that drives employee performance. This article, written by Dan Cafalo for WorldatWork uses ideas from Mercer Consultant Dan Marcus and others to illustrate the importance difference between measuring and driving workplace performance.

A summary of the article is included. You can also download a copy of the complete article in PDF format, with WorldatWork's permission.

 Read the article

 Browse our coverage of related issues in the Mercer Perspective library

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