Benefits Benchmarking: Case Studies

See how Mercer assists companies in assessing and strengthening the benefits portion of their total rewards package, delivering benchmarking reports on Retirement and Savings, Health and Group, Paid Leave, Life/Disability, and Work Life Benefits.

Select one of the case studies to see benefits benchmarking in action

Local electrical and gas municipality serving a population of more than 1.3 million customers across more than 90 counties. Read more
Large healthcare system with a network of hospitals, outpatient services, assisted living, and long-term care facilities. Read more
Compensation and Benefits positioning for 16 of the largest automobile manufacturers with US operations. Read more
Large healthcare organization with union and non-union employees working in 7 states. Read more

Case Study:
Market competitiveness

Local electrical and gas municipality serving a population of more than 1.3 million customers across more than 90 counties

Challenges

Desired data to use to defend proposed rate increases presented to public service

  • Actions

    • Developed three different peer groups to meet needs - general market, state, and industry
    • Delivered insights on pay neutral employer-provided relative values by peer group and plan type
    • Generated executive summary using heat map to speak to misalignments by market
    • Provided data that supported a rate increase - results didn't achieve goal in all markets generating the need for additional analysis
    • Consulted on total rewards competitive market positioning and the influence on rates
    • Prior project completed in 2018, understanding peer group and plan design changes added complexity

  • Results

    • Facilitated in-person meetings with subject matter experts to gain targeted insights
    • Enjoyed one-on-one client meetings to ensure full understanding of benefit trends and positioning
    • Gained invaluable data necessary to defend proposed rate increases
    • Unraveled the comparator group and market complexity, enabling clearer benefits decision making
    • Provided insights on multiple peer groups to best attract and retain key talent
    • Empowered with benefit alternatives to higher cash compensation to attract and retain top talent
    • Gained insights to support client’s employee value proposition
    • Gained measurable metrics to compare benefits offerings against client’s custom peer group
    • Identified cost-savings opportunities to maximize employee benefit offerings

Case Study:
Market competitiveness

Large healthcare system with a network of hospitals, outpatient services, assisted living, and long-term care facilities

Challenges

Understand competitive market positioning for Compensation and Benefits to assess strengths and weaknesses of all programs

  • Actions

    • Completed a compensation benchmarking review and analysis project
    • Reviewed benefits information to assess competitive positioning, but focus was not on redesigning plan provisions
    • Spotlighted areas with gaps to market and misalignments with current Employee Value Proposition (EVP) strategies 

  • Results

    • Identified regional healthcare and general industry organizations within existing
    • Reported competitive positioning for total benefits with insights of rank and index by plan
    • Leveraged standard profiles to assess lead/lag market positioning by profiles/personas

Case Study:
Compensation and benefits positioning

Compensation and Benefits positioning for 16 of the largest automobile manufacturers with US operations

Challenges

Obtain compensation and benefits insights ensuring competitive positioning

  • Actions

    • Generated one Benefits Valuation Analysis (BVA) showing all organizations on a blinded basis - provide entity key for each unique organization
    • Core BVA provided plus ability to purchase additional reports/cost modeling at deeply discounted fees
    • Presented findings on aggregate report plus schedule one-on-one client meetings to ensure full understanding of deliverables
    • Completed biannual compensation and benefits study with deliverables
    • Ran closed survey ̶ engagement in force since 2015
    • Sponsored a multiple day meeting in a central location to share findings, network, and host speakers on topics of interest

  • Results

    • Leveraged Mercer findings to strategize on broad-based benefits planning
    • Used Mercer findings as a strategic tool in union negotiations
    • Gained insights in key benefit trends across a strategic participation group
    • Facilitated in-person meetings with subject matter experts to gain targeted insights

Case Study:
Benchmarking for negotiations

Large healthcare organization with union and non-union employees working in 7 states

Challenges

Desired data to use for both 2021 union negotiations and broad-based benefits planning

  • Actions

    • Developed 2 custom online surveys - One for Total Rewards (pay and benefits) and one for Benefits only
    • Identified healthcare and general industry peer lists (covering 10 regions)
    • Provided total remuneration at the job level and pay neutral employer-provided relative values plus plan provision data
    • Representation across Mercer's Health, Wealth and Career business
    • Input across four Career teams: Benefits Benchmarking Group (BBG), rewards consulting, data analytics, and surveys/products
    • Leveraged the power of Mercer to strengthen participation
    • Provided “living data” or data the client could interact with to solve for all scenarios they encounter

  • Results

    • Gained insights into competitive market positioning for both compensation and benefits
    • Understood comparative strengths and weaknesses of benefits programs
    • Empowered to adjust plan provisions to align with market positioning and employee preferences
    • Adjusted benefits offerings to balance market competitiveness with employee preference
    • Identified gaps to market across workforce as a whole and individual employee positions
    • Gained access to a living database for use in future total reward strategies
    • National organizations with operations in all regions and were able to assess total rewards nationally, regionally and also at an employee level
Related Solutions
Related Insights

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