What planning challenges do employers around the world share?

Multinational employers may operate in diverse economies around the world, but they face certain common global human resource challenges. Chief among them is the changing concept of retirement and the continuing rise in the cost of healthcare. Here are the top challenges, according to Mercer:

Top five retirement challenges

1. The concept of retirement is changing and many will be forced to postpone full retirement.

2. Defined contribution plans are becoming the norm.

3. As more responsibility for retirement is shifted to the individual, there is a disturbing lack of employee understanding of how to ensure a secure retirement.

4. Retirement benefits may be inadequate for many employees.

5. Global governance is on the rise to ensure compliance and competitiveness in all markets in which a company operates.

Top five health and welfare challenges

1. Rising employee expectations for state-of-the-art healthcare conflict with private sector concern about the rising costs.

2. Workers differ on the value of individual benefits, depending upon their age and personal circumstances.

3. Lifestyle diseases are on the rise, straining healthcare budgets.

4. Understanding and managing how changing health risks can affect employer liabilities is essential, but often overlooked.

5. Tracking global health benefit costs and ensuring good governance of programs worldwide is a challenge.