December Edition: Work different book, better benefits strategies, and 2024 investment themes

Mercer News & Notes returns to bring you more insights, research, and bold ideas for December. 

Work different: 10 truths for winning in the people age

Attitudes towards work and employee expectations have changed dramatically in the last few years, and consequently, organizations are experiencing staffing issues.

In a new book — Work Different: 10 Truths for Winning in the People Age — Mercer leaders Ilya Bonic, Kate Bravery and Kai Anderson offer insightful observations and practical guidance for making sustainable people management work in today’s global economy.

Discover how organizations can shift how they recruit, hire, upskill and retain people for the future of work, as well as how to weave sustainability and resilience into their business priorities.

How to optimize benefit strategies for 2024?

Uncertainty has been the name of the game for benefits specialists over the past few years. Although medical plan trend (the annual rate of increase in per-person claims) has stabilized since the pandemic, it’s still higher than pre-pandemic levels.

As we enter 2024, employees are facing multiple new hardships, from rising interest rates to unaffordable housing, and there’s great opportunity for employers to get ahead of inflation and design meaningful employee benefit and wellbeing plans that will energize and engage their workforce.

In an effort to seize on this opportunity, we see three core considerations that employers should account for when devising their benefits plans for 2024:

• Use a wider mix of well-executed strategic cost-containment levers.
• Look for opportunities to broaden health and wellbeing supports, including medical plans.
• Pay special attention to vulnerable employees.

We recommend that employers start to think immediately about how they can support their most vulnerable people while continuing to engage with all employees to support their wellbeing. Discover how.

Investment themes and opportunities in 2024 and beyond

The world is being reshaped by long-term upheaval across global markets, economies and society.  The normalization of monetary policy, escalation of conflict risk, disorganized transition to cleaner technologies, and the lightning-quick socialization of generative AI all contribute to the complex and changing landscape that global investors must navigate.

It is essential that investors understand the key trends that will drive markets in 2024 if they hope to take advantage on the opportunities they bring. Heading into the new year, we’ve identified three investment themes and opportunities for the months ahead:

• Regime change: Heightened geopolitical risk, inflation volatility, and transition risks all point to greater volatility, dispersion and dislocation. These conditions that are ripe for dynamic alpha generators (such as hedge funds) and strategies that can step into spaces that traditional lenders have left.
• Super cycles: While interest rate increases are having an impact and cyclical inflationary pressures are subsiding, many significant structural inflationary pressures remain.
• Mega trends: Multi-decade transitions that are gradually but steadily materializing will come to a head as step changes in innovation, market pressures and regulatory changes will impact demand structures over time.

And that’s all we have for this edition of Mercer News & Notes newsletter! We hope you’ll join us again next month as we continue to bring the latest insights directly to you, and please share any thoughts or recommendations on topics you’d like to see in our next issue in the comments below.  👇

Don’t forget to follow Mercer on LinkedIn for the latest insights and points of views on all things future of work, and feel free to reach out if you’d like to hear more about any of the topics discussed today!

The information contained in this document is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It should not be relied upon as investment advice or an offer or solicitation. The information represents the views and opinions of the author(s) regarding the economic conditions or financial instruments referenced herein. The opinions expressed are subject to change without notice. 

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