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Mercer Marsh Benefits

Governance and financial

70% of firms say governance and financial risks are a serious threat. Without processes and controls, costly mistakes happen, including uninsurable benefits and unexpected post-employment liabilities.
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Costs continue to climb for employers.

Whether it means providing traditional employee health and benefits programs, or an evolved plan that includes well-being initiatives, flexibility, and choice to attract, retain, and engage their talent.

No matter the program type, there is an increased focus on cost containment and simplification. In fact, 70% of human resources and risk managers feel strongly that governance and financial risks related to their people pose a serious threat to the business, as noted in The Five Pillars of People Risk 2021.

Errors or poor decisions around design, financing, administration, and vendor management can have substantial implications for the business. Claims frequency and cost are rising, while employers have little visibility around what’s driving this cost, and have other fiduciary or compliance obligations to meet.

Pension benefits, in particular, can be onerous to administer and manage – especially where dynamic investment strategies are in place – and many defined benefit plans are now legacy arrangements.

MMB can help you

Companies are increasingly looking to centralize decisions to improve visibility, reduce risk, and ensure agility in their local execution of their global benefits strategy that is aligned to their mission and values.

Mercer Marsh Benefits can work with you to:

  • Review all policies and guidelines and map responsibilities for benefits decision making to key roles.
  • Analyze previous benefits usage and claims data to identify key cost drivers and use predictive analysis to see how costs may rise in the future.
  • Examine provider, employee, and leadership behaviors that may be driving benefit cost increases.

We also can support the introduction of a multi-year and multi-pronged cost-containment strategy, which might include measures such as self-insurance, program harmonization, or global benefits management.

Though these actions to simplify HR administration, you will be able improve visibility, reduce risk, and ensure agility in your employee health and benefits program.

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

70%

of HR and risk managers agree that governance and financial risks pose a serious threat to the business.

52%

say increasing health, risk protection, and well-being costs are likely, and 45% say these risks could have a catastrophic impact.

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Learn how we can help your human resources team save time and streamline processes by providing ongoing benefits support, administration, and effective communications.

Speak with one of our team today.

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