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CHALLENGE: Companies today find themselves walking a fine line. They need to manage costs aggressively, but they also need to take actions now that will ensure superior levels of performance as business conditions improve.

KEY QUESTION: How do we manage the workforce and its related financial costs in ways that enhance effectiveness and efficiency without compromising prospects for future growth?

Thought leadership

Unprecedented times: Managing the cost of behavioral health care

Creating value through people in these unprecedented times: A report on Benelux companies

Delivering through a crisis: When cost savings are a priority in these times, can you afford to go with the lowest-cost provider?

Pay for performance in a downturn: Putting the right tools and processes in place

Webcast recording: Difficult times, new challenges: Managing your defined contribution plan in today's changing economy

Contain health care costs during the downturn - A Mercer Perspective

Tough economic times: Rapid cost savings opportunities for employers (Large employers)

Tough economic times: Rapid cost savings opportunities for employers (Small/medium employers)

Keeping key people in tough times

Events



Webcast: Expatriate localisation: to localise or not? (20 October)

The changing landscape for tax and higher earners - Implications for reward and benefits (3 November)

Mercer interactive

Video: Cost and performance: Balancing workforce productivity with expense control


Webcast recording: Restructuring and enterprise value - Acquiring in USA


Webcast recording: Europe: Keeping employees engaged during times of change


Webcast recording: Global: Expatriate benefits & compensation: Maximising the return on your investment


Podcast: Total rewards under pressure

Podcast: To have and to hold: Keeping your top people in tough times

Podcast: Changing times: The impact on employer-provided health benefits

Podcast: Sculpt benefit programs to cut costs, retain talent


Podcast: Balancing shareholder concerns in incentive pay design

Webcast recording: Health Reform outlook: Legislative update and a Mercer survey on recession and reform
CHALLENGE: Heightened market volatility and uncertainty has magnified concerns around existing financial, investment, legal, talent and reputational risks. But recent financial and economic events have also uncovered new “systemic” risks around appropriate governance and oversight. The riskier environment has already begun to have an impact on how companies operate.

KEY QUESTION: What risks, both new and existing, pose the greatest potential harm to our company, and what can we do now to identify and protect against them?

Thought leadership

Difficult times: is your trustee board rising to the challenge?

Retirement plan member reactions: They’re concerned

Flexible benefits - Can you afford not to offer them?

Employer reactions: Challenges and opportunities

Opportunity knocks?

DC Connections - A collection of global perspectives

Events



Webcast: Global employee choice survey (15 October)

Webcast: US: The importance of governance in managing reward risk and cost (Autumn 2009)

Mercer interactive

Video: Risk and control: Managing volatility through strong governance

Podcast: Strategic funding policies for pensions

Podcast: Volatility affects pension funding status

Podcast: Weathering the stork - Part II: Executive compensation reconsidered

Podcast: Changing times: The impact on employer-provided health benefits

Podcast: Helping plan participants weather times of market


Web briefing recording: Leading in unprecedented times: Canadian pension funding and legislation: Who can spell relief?
CHALLENGE: The worldwide economic crisis has accelerated government action and amplified calls for further reform around a number of workforce issues. Pay equity practices, executive remuneration and employee health care are among the areas that are undergoing significant change in certain countries. Looking ahead, many economic and political observers foresee more direct government involvement in shaping the business decisions that affect a company’s workforce.

KEY QUESTION: First, what are the best practices for complying with new workforce laws and regulations; second, what should we do now to anticipate and then lessen the impact of any future rules that arise from changing social and political views?

Thought leadership

Ledbetter Fair Pay Act raises pay equity stakes for employers Leading through unprecedented times - US Health Reform

Perspective - The uninsured employee: A key issue for health reform

Global Health & Benefits Perspective - US health care reform

Retirement Perspective - Government reactions: Changing the rules

Mercer launches new book: Pay for results: Aligning executive compensation with business performance

Events



Webcast: Health care reform update (22 October)

Mercer interactive

Video: Social reform and regulation: Responding decisively to new government policies


Web briefing recording: UK personal Accounts: meeting the costs and preparing to comply



Web briefing recording: Canadian pension funding and legislation: Who can spell relief?

Web briefing recording: Managing your compensation risks

CHALLENGE: The economic decline has compelled a growing number of companies to restructure their finances (increasingly via bankruptcy) to continue operating. The financial overhaul invariably involves corresponding business and workforce changes. At the same time, many financially sound companies are refocusing their business operations and workforces to limit the impact of revenue shortfalls.

KEY QUESTION: What steps should we be taking throughout the restructuring process that immediately preserves the company’s enterprise value as well as sets the stage for high performance in the newly restructured organization?

Thought leadership

Workforce communication & change: Driving change through effective communication

Mastering pension and benefit issues beyond your borders

Survey: Severance Pay in Major Markets around the World

Web briefing recording: Organisational fitness: Sizing the workforce for business success

Events



Web briefing: Weathering the storm: Managing your multiemployer plan commitments (21 October)

Mercer interactive

Video:Restructuring and enterprise value: Workforce strategies for successful turnarounds'


Podcast: Fast forward: Leading transformational change in 'real time'


Podcast: Heads up: Communication strategies for tough times

Podcast: Doing deals in unprecedented times


Web briefing recording: Organisational fitness: Sizing the workforce for business success


Web briefing recording: Managing pensions risk: The financial implications for business

 

 

Leading through unprecedented times: Global survey, version 2.0

This survey includes responses from 2100 HR professionals representing 90 countries and offers practical insights on the actions to take in the current economic climate

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Worldwide webcast series - Register now!

Today's major issues for organizations around the globe are being addressed from various geographic perspectives in a worldwide series of live webcasts

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Related resources

Access a wealth of Mercer resources – including articles, white papers, podcasts, survey reports, web briefings and more – to help your organization fully understand and address these challenges of the current economic turmoil

Learn more