EMPLOYEE BENEFITS CONSULTANTS/MANAGERS.

Ranked by number of L.A. County employees involved in employee benefits services

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

IN a study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 64 percent of employees surveyed listed health insurance as the most important benefit to them, followed by retirement plans (cited by 18 percent) and child care (5 percent).

Employers seem well aware of those priorities.

More than 80 percent of the 108.1 million workers earning an hourly wage or salary in this country in 1997 (the latest year available) were employed by firms that offered a health plan, according to the institute.

Of those employees, 83 percent were participating in the plan.

The cafeteria plan, or flexible benefit plan, while available for the past several years, is quickly becoming the plan of choice for benefits clients.

Its popularity stems from the fact that both employers and employees can benefit from a tax write-off. With most other plans, only emp1oyers can deduct fees as a business expense.

Industry experts say more employers are responding to employee pressure to incorporate this kind of plan into their benefits packages.

THE PACESETTER

WILLIAM M. MERCER LLC 

ONCE again, William M. Mercer tops the list of Los Angeles County employee benefits consulting firms, with 150 staffers handling that type of service.

Mercer advises clients about providing traditional benefits like health insurance and retirement plans, as well as about overall benefit administration and communications. In addition, Mercer handles human resources matters such as executive compensation, employee pay and performance, and sales effectiveness.

L.A. office leader Glenn Meister said a siginificant amount of merger and acquisition activity within Mercer's client base, coupled with the strong economic atmosphere, are the harbingers of change. As a result, Mercer is looking at redesigning its retirement plans and reassessing assets and investment strategies of clients.

"The workforce is more knowledgeable, many (clients) have more money, the level of sophistication is higher, and we have been helping our clients as needed regarding these changes," Meister said.

Mercer has started by rearranging the composition of its workforce and the nature of the work. For example, in its medical benefits programs, Mercer is assessing national health-care delivery capabilities, employee cost sharing strategies (what employees pay for coverage) and systems needed to support changes in programs.

Mercer is the 12,500-employee consulting division of New York-based Marsh & McClennan Cos., a professional services holding company consisting primarily of the largest business insurance brokerage in the world. The company has increased its annual revenues from over $7 billion in 1998 to $9.2 billion in 1999 through a combination of internal expansion and acquisitions.