A new chapter begins
Operating by Design: An outcomes model for perpetual change
This is a living operating model. Future updates, tools, and examples will continue to be added.
For decades, HR was built to optimize two scarcities: time and skills. So we built the holy trinity of HR — Business Partners, COEs, Shared Services — and called it good. And for a minute, it was.
Functional, respectable, outdated. The corporate equivalent of a flip phone.
AI creates the very capacity the old HR model was built to ration. The new bottlenecks are far more human: quality data, AI fluency, governance, discernment, and — the biggie — trust.
Design around yesterday’s limits and you’ll keep getting yesterday’s outcomes. Start from the future instead. Decide what outcomes matter, then assemble the right humans, machines, and intelligent workflows to make them real.
This paper shows you what that looks like. It’s time to retire the flip phone and design like you know AI exists.
Functional, respectable, outdated. The corporate equivalent of a flip phone.
AI creates the very capacity the old HR model was built to ration. The new bottlenecks are far more human: quality data, AI fluency, governance, discernment, and — the biggie — trust.
Design around yesterday’s limits and you’ll keep getting yesterday’s outcomes. Start from the future instead. Decide what outcomes matter, then assemble the right humans, machines, and intelligent workflows to make them real.
This paper shows you what that looks like. It’s time to retire the flip phone and design like you know AI exists.
The problem in one line
Centralize, standardize, segregate, and specialize
Those answers won in yesterday’s world — but now they can slow decisions, fragment data and hide accountability. Modern organizations need result-first design, flexible teams, and trustworthy AI controls.
What's inside & what's coming next
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Nine paradigm shifts defining the New Operating Model
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The structural anatomy you can start implementing today:
- Digital fabric
- Outcome Delivery Teams (ODTs)
- Domain expertise
- Enablement services
- AI empowerment center
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Practical scenarios illustrating the model in action
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Examples, questions and prompts for applying the model in your context
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A glide path to pilot outcomes without overhauling existing systems
How the model works
Who this model is for
This model is built for perpetual change and for scale. It works whether you run a small organization or a global enterprise. You can start in one function (HR or IT) and prove value and expand the approach across the business to include all functions. It’s for CHROs, C-suite leaders, IT heads and anyone responsible for making work and technology deliver real results.
Why Mercer
Mercer helps design, pilot and scale outcomes driven models that derisk AI, modernize essential services, and create measurable business impact. We bring playbooks for AI governance, ODT pilots, budget redesign and leader enablement so leaders become “wisdom workers” who make better tradeoffs faster.
Too Long; Didn't Read your way
We know this POV is deep. It’s meant to, because transformation isn’t surface-level. But if you’d like a quick tailored summary, copy and paste this prompt into your GPT of choice, “summarize Mercer’s operating by design paper from the perspective of [a insert your role and title]. Highlight the key impacts for my function, what actions I should consider, and how this model could change the way we work.”
This is human and machine teaming in action, spoiler alert, a foundational paradigm of the new model.
This is human and machine teaming in action, spoiler alert, a foundational paradigm of the new model.
An Outcomes Model for Perpetual Change
This POV will continue to evolve with new guidance, tools and examples. By downloading, you will be included in future releases and directed to where new content and conversations will live as they become available.
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