We’re excited to be part of the HR Technology Conference in Las Vegas and can’t wait to meet you there! Join our senior leaders and consultants for their presentations throughout the week and visit our booth in the expo hall.

Attend Mercer-Led Sessions For Key Insights and HR Best Practices

Don’t miss exciting sessions throughout the conference led by our senior leaders and consultants and gain a new perspective on topics including, women in technology, diversity and inclusion, talent strategy and digital transformation.

Driving Growth Through the Advancement of Women in Technology
Tuesday, October 10 at 8:30 am – 9:25 am

Speaker: Patricia Milligan, Global Leader, Multinational Client Group

Three of the five highest-growth fields — management, computer science, mathematics, architecture and engineering — face low female representation. And especially in the tech industry, women find challenges ascending to higher ranks.

Mercer’s global research report, When Women Thrive, Businesses Thrive: An Imperative for the Tech Industry, finds that as career level rises, female representation severely declines. Women represent only 18% of the average technology firm’s executives and only 34% of the industry workforce — that’s over 10% less females than in the overall global workforce.

Despite these significant challenges confronting women, there are also many opportunities for women and businesses as they look to provide vibrant colleague experiences where all employees and the business can thrive. Some are technology driven (such as flex or remote work); while others are driven by organizational structural changes (such as neutralizing bias throughout talent processes).

Pat Milligan will discuss this paradox of technology: how even in this current state of disruption, there is opportunity for sustainable improvement in female representation at all levels of employment across any organization. You’ll learn more about what’s keeping women from getting to the top and come away with new approaches and actionable insights.

The Business Value of Diversity & Inclusion and the Role of HR and HR Technology
Thursday, October 12 at 1:45 pm – 3:00 pm

Panel: Patricia Milligan (Global Leader, Multinational Client Group, Mercer), Michael Krupa (Senior Director, Cisco), Naomi Bloom (Managing Partner, Bloom & Wallace), Rita Mitjans (Chief Diversity & Corporate Social Responsibility Officer, ADP)

Many organizations contend – and there's a lot of research to support – that diversity of thought, expertise, life experiences, cultural assumptions and more improves not only their decision-making but also the creativity and even speed which helps drive improved business outcomes. And, increasingly, we've learned that organizations work best when that diversity is supported by a culture of inclusion and a work environment which adapts to the needs of a diverse workforce.

Diversity means a lot more than gender and racial representation, and inclusion goes well beyond inviting everyone to the annual holiday party.

This panel of Diversity & Inclusion leaders will tackle the biggest issues of diversity and inclusion from a business outcomes perspective and then combine their considerable expertise to make practical recommendations for addressing these issues today. The business purpose of both diversity and inclusion, and where modern HR technology enablement can help organizations with these challenges will be discussed.

This is your chance to hear from those leading the charge in their organizations in addressing these top of mind challenges for today’s HR and business leaders.

What HR Leaders, C-Suite Executives and Employees Tell Us About the World of Work Today
Friday, October 13 at 9:30 am – 10:30 am

Speakers: Kate Bravery (Career Global Practices Leader, Mercer) and Katherine Jones (Partner & Director, Talent Research, Mercer)

The world is changing — and global organizations are changing with it, seeking to create an agile, more nimble company with the ability to learn and respond. But how do you achieve this change?

Get insights based on data from Mercer’s annual Global Talent Trends study, which represents views of business executives, HR professionals and employees across 15 countries, and Mercer’s Thriving Workforce report, which represents the views of practitioners in leading organizations around the world on what it means to thrive.

Katherine and Kate will highlight key challenges, top trends and major disconnects between executives, HR leaders and their employees gleaned from the research. They’ll also explore global trends impacting the world of work and how C-Suite and HR professionals are responding, how workforce expectations and preferences are changing, and implications this has for leadership and talent management.

Plus, you’ll learn talent strategies that can help future-proof your business and gain insight into the skills that are most in demand today.

Embracing Digital Transformation: How Bristol-Myers Squibb Created a Unified HR System
Friday, October 13 at 9:30 am – 10:30 am

Speakers: Christine Mahoney (Senior Partner, Global Leader, Strategy, Retirement and Health & Benefits, Mercer), Chris Bruce (Managing Director & Co-Founder, Thomsons On-Line Benefits), Jane Davila (Head of Global Benefits COE, Bristol-Myers Squibb) and Stacey Harris (Analyst, Sierra-Cedar)

In fall 2014, global biopharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) committed to an ambitious goal — to embrace digital transformation and launch a unified global HR ecosystem in the cloud. Two years later, BMS launched this global program with the introduction of foundational elements, encompassing new core HR and global payroll systems.

Next, BMS began to transform a critical HR element — benefits. Today, BMS is well on its way to meeting its total transformation goals with the implementation of a global benefits and employee engagement platform already completed in more than 20 countries — with 70% of non-U.S. employees using the platform.

Learn about BMS’s journey and the critical elements needed for companies to embrace a global HR system, what technologies are available to usher in this transformation, as well as how to align HR and global benefits technology strategies.

Visit our booth at the HR Tech Expo on Opening Night for a champagne reception to celebrate an exciting start to the HR Technology Conference and be sure to stop by throughout the week to speak with Mercer’s senior consultants and product leaders and learn about our latest digital innovations.

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  Growth By Design: Driving a bold change agenda

  
  

  93% of business executives plan to make a design change in their company within the next two years. It’s no longer about evolution – to stay ahead, organizations are transforming structures and jobs in a desire for increased efficiency, agility, and customer intimacy. Ensuring that the People agenda is not lost amid the drive for change will be critical to sustainable growth.

  
  
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  A Shift In What We Value: A new rewards paradigm is needed

  
  

  Fair & competitive pay and opportunities for promotion are top priorities for employees this year, which is not surprising given the climate of uncertainty and change. But it’s not just about financial results or activity metrics – 97% of employees want to be recognized and rewarded for the wide range of contributions they make each and every day.

  
  
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  A Workplace For Me: Personalization of the employee experience

  
  

  People expect their employer to “make work work” for their individual circumstances. Companies are starting to respond by taking a “whole person” approach and increasing the flexible work options available to their workforce – 63% already have a formal flexibility policy in place. Advances in technology are enabling individualized choice without adding an undue administrative burden for HR.

  
  
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  The Quest For Insight: Predictive analytics are still out of reach

  
  

  Even with advances in technology that facilitate both collection and analysis of large quantities of data, companies around the world are making slow progress in using analytics to inform human capital decisions. Very few are able to translate data into predictive insights, and nearly 1 in 5 are generating only basic descriptive reporting and historical trend analyses.