Mercer reviews

3.7

67% would recommend to a friend

(6,665 total reviews)
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Pat Tomlinson

36% approve of CEO

59% positive business outlook

Mercer has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 6,665 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Mercer employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Management & Consulting industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

7K reviews
1.0
Jan 26, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

If you need a job, sure. They let you work from home, but you will be punished for taking advantage of this by the local office (see below - dysfunctional, very old company, paranoid about loosing their main business - employer based health insurance, right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing, corporate says one thing and the local office does another). If you're a Conservative evangelists who loves pay freezes, layoffs and spends all day complaining about Democrats ruining healthcare, this will be a great place for you.

Cons

Management/OBL constantly talked about how the Affordable Care Act ruined their business which was bizarre given it's literally 10 years old. The culture was very paranoid about any change and would openly discuss how "Democrats are awful people ruining healthcare in the U.S." Extremely old company (MMC) with all the old company issues - disorganized, dysfunctional, political, arcane systems and policies, extreme internal politics, competitive/toxic culture including treating analysts poorly, weird hierarchy and power dynamics (not a flat organization), lots of old employees and then a stream of new analysts who leave after a year given how bad the culture is. Layoffs every year where I saw partners come into power (lots of turnover at the top) only to layoff or fire people they had worked with and didn't like (mostly principals and associates). One partner who rose up the ranks to lead a region mentioned they laid off a particular employee because "she was too old so we needed to get rid of her." I also heard a principal badmouthing an analysts behind their back as "black and in the ghetto way." This is the culture of Mercer. They consult on HR/Compliance while literally violating Federal Law (not to mention, just being decent human beings who don't discriminate based on age and other protected classes.) Avoid unless you can stomach drinking the cool-aid: Change = Bad, ACA = Bad, All Democrats = Bad. They also lobby the government constantly to keep employer based health insurance in place and you'll be barraged with constant e-mails and posts on LinkedIn about "saving our healthcare" by principals. It truly is a place facing an existential crisis. Avoid at all costs and get some real skills that will be valuable in the future.

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Mercer Response
6y
Former colleague, thank you for the feedback provided. We are very disappointed to hear about your experience while at Mercer. We take a great deal of pride in our culture of inclusiveness and the experience you have described does not align with how our colleagues work together and what we value. One of the things that our colleagues appreciate the most is the collaborative spirit of the company and the positive ways of working together. We have zero tolerance for any negative behavior like what you have described and will look into your feedback accordingly. We welcome any additional insight into your experience by contacting us at ColleagueFeedback@Mercer.com.
2.0
Jan 19, 2019

Bad to Worse

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Work from home opportunities about all that is left.

Cons

Inconsistent messages around company performance. Town halls deliver great news that the company is doing well but then a different message is delivered at employee year end for merit increases and ICP. Will be told some unit did not perform well so it has impacted performance increases yet again! This has been the same message for at least five years! Morale is low and your top performers don’t believe you anymore!

1.0
Sep 19, 2018

Don't do it!

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

They sell it really well during the interview process to lead you to believe they are a progressive company that believes and supports employee growth, unfortunately reality will tell you otherwise.

Cons

It is a sad cyclical place to be at where unfortunately the power dynamics benefits those that suck up to keep their jobs. Immature and inexperienced leadership leads the way and if you voice your input it will be ignored and you might even be slandered for it. Really toxic and hostile environment, they do not preach or put into practice what they consult on.

Viewing 7 - 9 of 6,665 Reviews

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