August Edition: AI Safety, Managing Gen Z, Single Family Offices and Jeff Black

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

Can firms safely activate generative AI?

Many studies have shown that generative AI promises productivity gains. But to deploy it safely, organizations must make a firm-wide commitment to AI literacy, reskilling, and resource redeployment with people-centric guard rails.

This begins by identifying core user personas who will use AI in the workplace, such as desk users, citizen developers, and IT teams. Each of these users face distinct risks and will necessitate unique guard rails and tailored upskilling programs.

In order to develop their own framework , we recommend employers take a three-phased approach:

1. Realize the potential of generative AI
2. Mitigate risk for each user group
3. Identify the required skills and begin journey to upskill their people

How to attract, retain, and engage Gen Z?

Gen Z (people born between 1997 and 2012) are unlike any of the generations that preceded them. They are motivated by different priorities and needs. They see work as a means to fund their passions, and are not interested in climbing the corporate ladder.

By 2025, they will make up a substantial portion of the workforce. To attract, retain, and engage this unique generation of future leaders , and avoid labor shortages in the future, employers need to understand their motivations and rethink job design and rewards.

Those employers looking to design jobs and benefits packages suitable for Gen Z may want to consider:

• Prioritizing mental health and preventive care.
• Enabling safe, secure access to digital health and well-being solutions.
• Demonstrating a commitment to critical societal issues.

A 10-step guide to single family office investments

The family office market is estimated to reach $133 billion by 2028 - a compound annual growth rate of 7.5%.? Consequently, many family offices could face increased responsibilities and challenges.

Although the investment beliefs of single family offices should embody the needs, preferences, nature and values of their unique family, the core investment principles remain relevant for most investors. That’s why we’ve identified 10 steps that single family offices could take to help them navigate short-term volatility and prepare for long-term wealth management and potential wealth enhancement:

1. Define your parameters
2. Embrace structural trends
3. Strategically manage inflation
4. Harness private markets
5. Apply principles to equity exposure
6. Consider agile credit exposure
7. Analyze hedge fund opportunities
8. Back transition-aware real assets
9. Consider net zero integration
10. Integrate nature as an investment theme

Jeff Black is a Mercer Partner who leads our award-winning Global Mergers & Acquisition Advisory Services business. With nearly 30 years’ experience as a trusted advisor to business leaders, he specializes in assisting employers across the full spectrum of Mercer’s people advisory capabilities.

Jeff and his team are committed to driving merger and acquisition deal value at the intersection of business and people strategy. They support and advise on over 1,100 transactions per year, providing insight on a variety of global people risks including commercial due diligence, organization design, leadership assessment, change management, culture risk mitigation, compensation structure, benefits pooling and financing, and HR operations and delivery. Jeff is a frequent speaker on M&A people risks, and is widely published and quoted in media outlets for his expertise in mitigating culture risk, retaining key talent during transactions, and efficiently capturing deal value.

Based in Chicago, Jeff enjoys spending time with his family, attending live music concerts, learning to play guitar, and watching sports.

Are you already connected with Jeff? If not, check out his profile , follow, and connect with him to keep up with Jeff’s latest work and thought leadership, and be sure to subscribe to the Delivering the Deal podcast, hosted by Jeff.

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.? ??

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