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Mercer Marsh Benefits

Talent practices

74% of firms say that talent practices risks are a threat, with attraction, retention, and engagement the top concern. Failing to tackle this will lead to an unmotivated workforce and the loss of talent.
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The new world of work – with an increasingly diverse workforce, changing business models, digital transformations, and evolving employee demands – requires companies to energize, inspire, and invigorate their people.

They can do so by redesigning their employees’ total work experience and improving the health and benefits choices available to them.

Disruptions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic introduced a myriad challenges for the workforce, from adapting to working from home or juggling home schooling to anxiety about catching COVID-19 or being placed on furlough. Beyond these challenges, employers must prepare for a world facing significant potential crises, from climate change to cybersecurity. Employers also must protect against heightened risks in areas such as misconduct and lack of succession.

Our Five Pillars of People Risk 2021 survey found that 74% of HR and risk managers agree or strongly agree that talent practices pose a serious threat to their business. Unsurprisingly, organizations are increasingly focused on talent attraction, retention, and engagement.

The inability to create a strong talent pipeline, a compelling employee value proposition, and growth opportunities within the organization will lead to an unmotivated workforce and the loss of key workers.

Forward-looking employers are revisiting their talent management strategies, policies, and procedures to reinvent their employee value proposition to ensure a depth and breadth of much-needed talent and appropriate and engaged behavior aligned to company objectives and values.

Helping people in the moments that matter boosts employee resilience and the workforce’s ability to cope. Equally, the ongoing desire for flexible working has implications for reinventing benefits in a post-pandemic world.

MMB can help you

Mercer Marsh benefits can help you create a health and benefits program that will improve attraction, engagement, and retention of talent in your organization.

We can:

  • Benchmark you against competitors and current industry practice, and help you consider innovations that actually meet employee needs.
  • Work with you to develop and adopt employee listening to enable a workforce-centric view when designing your benefits experience.
  • Support your objective of reaching beyond the average employee to provide the best experience for all employees.

Perhaps most significantly in today’s digital age, working together we can consider whether your benefits program meets the needs of a workforce looking for “anywhere, anytime” convenience. This could mean, for instance, offering virtual medical benefits such as telemedicine, virtual physical therapy, and digital mental health to your employees.

Report

The five pillars of people risk: Managing risks for business and workforce resilience

Our research examines 25 of the most pertinent threats to employers today to help stakeholders identify, understand and prioritize which risks should be addressed through employee benefits plans, health insurance and other initiatives to minimize the impact to their organization.

Explore the report

74%

of HR and risk managers agree that talent practices pose a serious threat to their business.

54%

say talent attraction, retention, and engagement risks are likely, and 52% say these risks could have a catastrophic impact.

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Employers are entering a transformation phase, striving to become more sustainable, diverse, global, and efficient. Discover how to transform workplace engagement to meet these challenges.

Speak with one of our team today.

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