Great People, Poor Management - Consultant Mercer Employee Review

2.0
Aug 16, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The people you work with day-to-day and the leaders who are involved in the business are great. You can establish a healthy work-life balance and genuinely enjoy being around your colleagues. Plus, you are given a fair amount of autonomy and independence.

Cons

The functional managers (i.e., partners without a book of business or corporate executives) do not provide any leadership. Almost all communications from management are vague or badly delivered (there was a corporate message called Peace, Love and Sales that was supposed to be come off as some kind of resistance/Guy Fawkes message that made zero sense). As a result, when the rank and file's base salaries were frozen and bonuses decreased year-over-year with very little explanation, but the CEO received a base salary increase, 112% bonus payout, plus a special $1M equity award there was a mass exodus. Overall, compensation at Mercer is low and they acknowledge it as a trade-off for the work life balance. However, in recent years the compensation system has gotten so out-of-whack that compensation is laughably low. If you are considering joining this company, make sure you ask about the recent turnover in the NYC office and how the underlying issues (compensation, people managers, and career development) have been addressed.

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Mercer Response
7y
Former colleague, Thank you for your feedback. One of the things that our colleagues value the most is the people they work with and the teams they work with every day, so we are glad you were able to experience that during your time at Mercer. Regarding our goals and compensation, we always strive to improve, but we do place a great deal of value sharing our successes across our businesses. One common theme prevails which is to reward our talent fairly and transparently. we are clearly disappointed to hear about the experience you had while at Mercer and wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

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CEO approval
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Pros

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Cons

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2.0
Jun 2, 2026
Recommend
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Pros

Remote flexibility, which is nice.

Cons

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