Pros
Mercer is a prestigious name in the human resource consulting field. It has many experts in every area, and generally pays attention to urgent needs of its employees.
Cons
As an actuarial student at Mercer, we weren't given enough incentive to pass our exams. Study time and exam bonuses are considerably less than other actuarial firms (insurance and consulting). The company also doesn't do a good job of adding more resources when projects get busy. Our division of the company has been working overtime for months due to new business coupled with people leaving the company. The same amount of work is being weighed down on fewer shoulders, and management is doing very little to help alleviate the workloads. Worst of all, the company has a strict seniority-based preferential treatment. The company had levels (going from 5 to 9), and within each level, people are treated based on how long they've been around (hire date). It used to be that newcomers to the company get the innermost cubicles. Upon promotion, they can move closer to the window cubicles, etc. Even when it came to getting computers, seniority gets first pick and analysts get whatever old ones are leftover. Where's the incentive to do your best?