EMPLOYEE BENEFITS THAT WORK FOR YOU AND YOUR WORKFORCEEMPLOYEE BENEFITS DRIVE COSTS AND EMPLOYEE SATISFACTIONWe don’t need to tell you that rising benefit costs are having a negative impact on employers’ bottom lines. In addition, a recent survey conducted by Mercer also confirms that only 59% of employees are satisfied with their health care benefits. Given these pressures, is it time to look at your employee benefit plans to make sure that costs are contained and that you are optimizing your investment?
MERCER CAN hELPMercer helps employers of all sizes design, place and manage employee benefit programs that are tailored specifically to your needs. Many small firms are surprised to learn that over 60% of Mercer’s more than 8,000 clients in the US are small and mid-sized companies with fewer than 500 employees.
Ninety-eight percent of our customers say they would recommend us to others. Some of the reasons are described below.
hOW WE hELPMercer will:
• Review your benefit plans and recommend short- and long-term strategies to meet your business goals.
• Negotiate with carriers and help you implement your plan, including communication to your employees.
• Monitor the performance of your plan in terms of participation, cost, administration and compliance … and adjust as necessary.
www.mercer.com
WhY WE ARE DIFFERENTMercer is differentiated from competitors in five ways:
• The breadth and depth of our services are unparalleled. In addition to designing, placing and managing your benefits program, we offer a full range of specialty services, some of which are summa-rized on the next page.
• Our five-step consulting process ensures the consistency and reliability of the benefits programs we put in place.
• Mercer’s global footprint enables us to serve multinationals around the world, but also creates efficiencies that can benefit domestic companies.
• Mercer and our clients have won awards for the innovative services we have created in total health management and other areas.
• We take a long-term, strategic approach to our clients’ benefits issues, anticipating the changes that health care reform and other market factors will have.
hOW YOU BENEFITSAVE MONEYMercer helps improve your bottom line by using the collective buying leverage of our client base to negotiate the best group coverage rates on your behalf.
We ensure that your benefits are competitive by benchmarking them against companies like yours. Our annual Survey of Employer-Sponsored health Plans provides health data segmented by industry, employer size, geography and other measures.
NAVIGATE hEALTh CARE REFORMhealth care reform has made compliance more difficult than ever. Mercer’s 50-member WRG is dedicated to providing clients with information and guidance to make sense of federal and state laws and keep abreast of the evolving health reform legislation.
Through unparalleled research, professional actuarial support and extensive training of our consultants and brokers, we help clients successfully manage the cost and administrative challenges that come with regulatory change. Visit Mercer’s dedicated health care reform website at http://www.mercer.com/us-health-care-reform.
“ I was introduced to Mercer
through our Marsh contact. The Mercer team understood my business and the issues I was facing with rising health care costs, looming health care reform and lack of employee engagement. Mercer brought the best of both worlds – the leverage, intellectual capital and resources of the largest benefit consulting firm coupled with a locally dedicated service team to partner with our HR staff to implement and manage our programs, monitor our results and truly act as an extension of our group.”
Scott Goss
President and CEO
Preferred Systems Solutions
SAVE TIMEEnrolling employees, answering questions and complying with federal and state regulations can make benefit plan administration a time-consuming endeavor. Mercer has different solutions customized to meet the different needs of our clients that remove administrative burdens, allowing you to focus on strategic issues.
CREATE A hEALThY, ENGAGED WORKFORCETo control long-term health costs, we develop and implement employee wellness programs that help improve employees’ health, productivity and commitment to your organization.
SPECIALTY SERVICESIn addition to benefit design, placement and management, Mercer offers the following value-added services, among others.
BENEFIT OUTSOURCING AND ADMINISTRATIONMercer has administration options that are tailored to the level of complexity in your benefits plans and the amount of automation required. All solutions create operational efficiencies, enhanced employee experience and predictable administrative costs.
VOLUNTARY BENEFITSMercer Integrated Benefits® enables organizations to provide employees with more benefit choices at no additional cost to you. Employees can pay insurers online for optional coverage, such as accident, critical illness, additional disability/life and supplemental health, among others.
TOTAL hEALTh MANAGEMENThealth and wellness initiatives demonstrate Mercer’s commitment not just to managing the price of benefits, but also to addressing the underlying cost driver – consumer behavior. By encouraging healthy behaviors, employee wellness and productivity are enhanced, resulting in higher retention rates and improved business results. Mercer offers a range of total health management services, including prescreened vendor partners with favorable pricing arrangements.
CASE STUDYA Los Angeles-based market
research firm with 250
employees recently hired
Mercer after a long-term
relationship with a regional
brokerage firm. The company
was challenged by the
increasing cost of its employee
benefit plans, and needed
industry-relevant health plan
benchmarking information to
ensure that it could effectively
compete for talent. With the
increasing complexity of health
care reform and other plan
compliance issues and with the
company growing internationally,
it also needed a partner with the
resources to ensure they were
compliant and one that could
provide global employment and
benefits expertise.
In addition to saving the
company money on the
health plan renewal, Mercer
provided the necessary data on
competitive benefit plan trends
in the US and other countries.
Mercer also provided Total
Rewards Survey data on paid
time off and other hR policies
that supported the client’s need
to create a competitive hiring
and retention program.
Copyright 2012 Mercer LLC. All rights reserved. 10948-hB-150612
FOR MORE INFORMATIONVisit us at http://www.mercer.us/
solutions/health-and-benefits.
or contact your local Mercerrepresentative:
INTERNATIONAL CONSULTINGIn order to grow their business, many companies have to reach new markets, and going global is a necessity for many of our clients. To effectively manage global benefits, our clients require a firm that can provide on-the-ground brokerage services and worldwide expertise in implementing and managing their global benefits programs.
Mercer Marsh Benefits™, which brings together the strengths of Mercer and Marsh around the world, can assist with country employment guidelines, local benchmarking, plan design, communications and renewal management, with local capabilities in 135 countries. Under Global Benefits Management arrangements, insurance contracts are consolidated with fewer carriers, resulting in cost savings, enhanced governance and streamlined benefits management.
LIFE, ACCIDENT AND DISABILITYLife, Accident and Disability (LAD) are risks that are critical to your employees’ financial security. Mercer’s LAD offering ensures that your programs are competitively financed, vendors provide outstanding service and employees value their benefits.
COMPLIANCEWe have a team of lawyers and legal professionals who focus entirely on health and group legal compliance issues. The Regulatory Resources Group provides Mercer’s clients with knowledgeable and efficient assistance to ensure that plan design, operations and transactions comply with the law from a practical, risk management perspective.
DC ADVISORSOur Defined Contribution (DC) Advisors group leverages Mercer’s experience and expertise to give small to mid-size 401(k) plan sponsors the power to make informed, intelligent decisions and improve the effectiveness of their programs, including fiduciary oversight, design, investments and vendor selection.
DC Advisors is a division of MMC Securities Corp. (MMCSC). Securities are offered through
MMCSC, a member of FINRA/SIPC. Variable Insurance products are distributed through
Marsh Insurance & Investments Corp. (MIIC), MIIC Insurance Services in California, and
Marsh Insurance Agency & Investments Corp. in New York. MMCSC, MIIC and Mercer are
affiliated companies owned by Marsh & McLennan Companies.