H E A LT H W E A LT H CAREER

THRIVING IN AN
AGE OF DISRUPTION
C R AFT A FUTU RE- FOC U S ED
P E O P L E S T R AT E G Y
THE WORLD OF WORK IS BEING

The fourth industrial revolution is fast becoming a workplace reality.

Artificial intelligence, robotics, 3-D printing, drones, and wearables
are rapidly integrating into the work environment — driving changes
to role expectations and the creation of new jobs. At the same
time, business models are adjusting to take advantage of a more
fluid workforce — in part to address the talent scarcity challenge,
but also in response to what people say they want out of a job.

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DISRUPTED... ARE YOU READY?

Today’s organizations are facing unprecedented

pressure to reskill and redeploy talent to stay
competitive. A more diverse demographic profile,
digital ways of working, and shifting expectations are
reshaping the world of work. These forces demand a
re-think of how organizations prepare for the future.

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A F U T U R E - F O C U S E D P E O P L E S T R AT E G Y

In today’s dynamic business environment, it’s not enough for companies to survive
— they must thrive.

Mercer partners with organizations on their Thrive Think differently! Traditional approaches
journey by addressing four critical priorities: to workforce planning — a key part of any
• Craft a Future-Focused People Strategy People Strategy — are often based on existing
• Curate a Compelling Value Proposition organizational structures and tend to focus on
• Create a Thriving Work Environment size and capacity. But when both the environment
• Cultivate a Lab Mindset and the required skillsets are rapidly changing,
a longer-term approach is required — one that
The first step sets the foundation and is often the contemplates a future work model and takes
most challenging to get right — especially in an a holistic view of all possible talent pools and
environment that keeps shifting under our feet. programs. The most successful people planning
The way we have approached HR strategy and strategies are increasingly focused on disruption,
workforce planning in the past is no longer fit for innovation, and large-scale transformation to
purpose. As digitalization, diversity, and disruption visualize the potential for a different future. They
forever change what it means to “go to work,” put in place agile work structures, which often
iterating on last year’s strategy is not enough to involves breaking down silos and creating space
ride the crest of workforce change. for iteration and adaptation.

At Mercer, we help our clients to think bigger and broader. It’s not just capacity planning; it’s about
leadership, culture, work models, and how the employee experience helps people thrive in this new world.

WE HELP YOU ANSWER THESE FIVE QUESTIONS

1 The future has become unpredictable. How can we get a clearer picture
of our future demand in Capabilities, Leadership, and Culture?

2 What can we do to understand our current and future supply internally and
externally? Not just for leadership but also for critical skills and capabilities?

3 What key human capital risks is our business facing, and how do we quantify
and mitigate them? What are our gaps in Leadership, Culture, Skills, and Capacity?

4 Which people initiatives are really going to make a difference? Where

should we focus our investment and how do we measure the impact?

5 How do we break down HR silos and ensure alignment across our people
initiatives?

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THE MERCER APPROACH

ALIGN DEFINE DETERMINE DESIGN DRIVE

VISION FUTURE STRATEGY SOLUTIONS PERFORMANCE

SUPPLY
DEMAND

ORG CAPABILITIES
METRICS & GOVERNANCE
EXTERNAL TRENDS
LEADERSHIP
& CULTURE TECHNOLOGY
MARKET DISRUPTION PURPOSE

SKILLS & KNOWHOW COMMUNICATION

BUSINESS STRATEGY

WORK MODEL & CAPACITY HR PROCESS REVIEW

FUTURE-FOCUSED I N T E G R AT E D PEOPLE-CENTERED

We begin by understanding both the external (outside-in) and internal (inside-out)

context. We will focus on your business strategy, external trends, and upcoming
disruptions to identify implications for your organization’s people and workforce
needs. We take a data-driven approach to help you understand and quantify the
impact. We also provide a variety of self-serve tools to support strategy work.

Before jumping into “solution-mode” it is important to analyze and understand your

organization’s unique situation: what are your people needs (demand) and how does
this compare to the current state (supply). We take this step to provide the evidence
needed to create buy-in, drive action, and enact real change.

Next, we create a detailed strategy to help you build your workforce of the future.
Impact analysis will measure the shrinkage of the gap across a broad range of
dimensions that impact culture, productivity, and engagement. From here, we can
support the development of an integrated roadmap for implementation.

Given internal and external labor dynamics and your strategic goals, we will partner
with you to understand your current talent programs and review their fit with the
new people strategy, identifying which should remain in place and which require
additional configuration to ensure both a defensive and offensive response to human
capital risks. We can also identify gaps where new solutions need to be designed.

In our experience, solution implementation is the most important and overlooked

stage of a people strategy process. Too often, the necessary infrastructure and
communication is assumed to be place when this is not the case. We will work with
you to ensure your transformation efforts are sustained and put in place measurable
objectives for each solution.

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A D ATA D R I V E N A P P R O A C H F O R
PRECISION INSIGHTS
Mercer’s approach leverages the power of statistical modeling and predictive analytics to diagnose
the organizational, workforce, and individual components of your current and future people strategy.
Our digital diagnostic tools can assess where you are headed based on your current trajectory, and
can also project the impact of different strategy scenarios on your workforce of tomorrow — helping
you move from “I think” to “I know.”

H U M A N C A P I TA L S C A N ® Leadership

HC Scan provides in-depth analysis to answer

questions such as: Talent Strategy Management
Structure
• What type of talent is needed to meet future
business objectives? Do you have enough of
this talent today?
• What roles will be critical to achieving your HR Functional Knowledge &
Processess Information
strategic goals? Flows

• How strong is your bench? How difficult is it to

fill critical vacancies?
• What is your current talent acquisition strategy Decision
Labor Pool
Making
and how is it meeting current & future needs?
• What aspects of work do you reward? Rewards

Dashboards with optional benchmarking allow you to pinpoint strengths and gaps at a glance, providing
an initial view to inform the creation of your future-focused people strategy.

INTERNAL L ABOR MARKET®

Mercer’s Internal Labor Market (ILM) Maps provide a graphical representation of talent flows that can
identify movement and progression blockers for key populations.
Career Level Total Hires Active Headcount, Total Promotions , and Representation (%) Total Exits
Males Females Males Females Representation: % Males | % Females Males Females

10.3% 0.0% 6.2% 8.8%

Level 1 195 96 67% | 33%
(20) (0) (12) (8)

Males: Females:
9.5% (26) 13.0% (22)

19.0% 0.0% 19.0% 26.1%

Level 2 273 169 62% | 38%
(52) (0) (52) (44)

12.0% (78) 16.8% (86)

14.0% 0.0% 10.0% 14.0%

Level 3 650 510 56% | 44%
(91) (0) (65) (72)

5.6% (117) 7.6% (140)

21.1% 0.0% 19.3% 26.1%

Level 4 2,093 1,851 53% | 47%
(442) (0) (403) (484)

16.9% (169) 22.0% (237)

29.9% 0.0% 22.1% 28.8%

Level 5 1,001 1,074 48% | 52%
(299) (0) (221) (309)

11.5% (39) 15.8% (59)

19.2% 0.0% 11.5% 15.8%

Level 6 338 371 48% | 52%
(65) (0) (39) (59)

Overall 21.3% 0.0% Active Headcount: 4,550 | 4,071 9.4% | 13.3% 53% | 47% 17.4% 24.0%

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 Less powerful Strategic Value More Powerful Our people strategy approach can also
Leverage the predictive power of your draw on a wider suite of proprietary
People Data to develop evidence-based
strategies and action plans tools, including:
Anecdotes, while
less powerful, • Organizational Culture Assessment:
are not to be
dismissed. Compares key aspects of current and
They capture
perceptions and desired org culture
beliefs that can
play an integral
role in validating • Digital Readiness Assessment:
and interpreting
data findings. Measures your organization’s digital
skills gap

• Thrive45 Audit: Measures the level to

Anecdotes Reactive Ongoing Benchmarks Correlations Simulations Predictive which the current work environment
checks reports & forecasting modeling
enables a Thriving workforce

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ABOUT MERCER
Mercer delivers advice and
technology-driven solutions that
help organizations meet the health,
wealth, and career needs of a
changing workforce. Mercer’s more
than 22,000 employees are based in
43 countries and the firm operates
in over 130 countries. Mercer is a
wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh &
McLennan Companies (NYSE: MMC),
the leading global professional
services firm in the areas of risk,
strategy, and people. With more
than 60,000 colleagues and annual
revenue over $13 billion, through its
market-leading companies including
Marsh, Guy Carpenter and Oliver
Wyman, Marsh & McLennan helps
clients navigate an increasingly
dynamic and complex environment.
For more information, visit
www.mercer.com. Follow Mercer
on Twitter @Mercer.

Copyright 2017 Mercer. All rights reserved.