Mercer buys employee engagement expert Sirota Consulting
Global HR consultancy Mercer has acquired Sirota Consulting, an international provider of employee engagement solutions. The acquisition bolsters Mercer’s strength and capabilities in talent management, as well as adds a range of employee engagement solutions to its portfolio. All of Sirota’s employees in four countries will make the transfer.
Founded in 1972, Sirota Consulting is a company that specialises in HR consulting. The firm’s advisory, research and technology capabilities span all aspects of the employee experience, including engagement, team effectiveness, leadership and culture. Sirota also has a number of proprietary tools and solutions that help clients get insight from engagement data, allowing them to support development and change. Today the consultancy serves more than 100 countries on six continents from offices in the US (New York, San Francisco), the UK (London), the Netherlands (Rotterdam) and Singapore.
After more than four decades of operating independently, Sirota has decided to join Mercer, with more than 21.000 professionals in 45+ countries one of the globe’s largest HR advisors. “With Sirota’s highly regarded intellectual capital, global normative database, tools, and assessments, Mercer will be able to address current trends in the marketplace that will benefit organisations worldwide”, says Ilya Bonic, a President at Mercer.
The move will in particular grow the strength of Mercer’s employee engagement offering – which focuses helping clients ensuring that their employees stay engaged and productive. In a period when the ‘war for talent’ has returned to the forefront of strategic agenda’s (see: Great career opportunities drive talent retention) and newer generations of workers are growingly sceptical of work-related factors, employee engagement has developed into one of the most important human capital issues facing business leaders today. Building engagement relies on a mix of data-driven employee survey research programmes and expertise, says Bonic, and, with the added capacities of Sirota Consulting, he highlights that Mercer is better positioned to deliver market-leading propositions.
Commenting on the deal, John Mallozzi, Chief Executive Officer at Sirota, says, “Both Mercer and Sirota have the tools, technology, and insights to help organisations enhance their talent management programs and unlock the full potential of their workforce.”
As part of the integration, Sirota Consulting has been rebranded as Mercer | Sirota. All employees will transfer to Mercer, with no restructuring efforts on the table for Sirota employees, says Lewis Garrad, a Singapore-based Managing Director at Sirota. “We are joining to add a consistent and enhanced level of global service to Mercer’s employee research and engagement practices. They will leverage our thought leadership, technology and expertise to deliver even better service to clients,” he remarks.
M&A by Mercer
Mercer, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, has over the past two years acquired a number of companies to ramp up its offering. Earlier in 2016 it bought UK-based The Positive Ageing Company and Workday specialist CPSG Partners, while last year Mercer closed three major acquisitions: that of Jelf Group (picked up from Marsh), Comptryx (a specialist in HR metrics) and Kepler Associates (a remuneration consultancy).
