Mercer and PWN Frankfurt: Inspire Inclusion on IWD 2024

Earlier in March 2024, PWN Frankfurt was delighted to partner with Mercer Deutschland to present a wonderful and interactive evening to our members and community, encompassing the theme of International Women’s Day 2024 “Inspire Inclusion”.

It had been many years since we had partnered with Mercer here in Germany, and it certainly went off with a bang! Seats went quickly – within 3 hours they were snapped up, so we knew we’d hit a nerve.

We arranged an exceptional panel discussion with our own President, Alison Forrest, alongside three influential Mercer voices – Achim Lüder (Marsh McLennan CEO Germany, Northern / Central / Eastern Europe, and former Mercer Chief People Officer), Michael Eger (Consulting Leader Talent Attraction, Recruiting and Retention Europe & UK), and Carsten Strube (Partner and Wealth Lead Pensions). 

This is the first time that PWN Frankfurt has hosted an event that hada panel discussion with more men than women - and it was noted that this was a clear example of allyship, with no "mansplaining" in sight!!

The panellists spoke on three key themes:

• how to inspire yourself to be included and take your rightful seat at the table;
• what Mercer is seeing from their clients in terms of gender balanced leadership, and how they are helping here; and
• what steps Mercer is taking itself to ensure this is a natural part of "Doing Business" for them. 

The audience was spellbound for the 90-minute discussion, and fully engaged, asking probing and thoughtful questions around quotas, negotiations, and the lack of female job applicants, especially in areas such as wealth management. Even with such emotive topics, the focus was on solutions, and what steps can we take, and are being taken, to help to close these workplace gaps in an intentional and practical manner. 

We rounded off the evening with some lovely drinks and nibbles in the welcoming Mercer offices and a solid round of networking, dissecting the discussions, exchanging thoughts and experiences, and ideas and wishes for a more inclusive future. It certainly felt more attainable after such an inspiring evening! 

Sincere thanks go to Mercer and in particular their equality BRG team, which is wonderfully aligned with the global mission of PWN. We look forward to further successful and inspiring collaborations in the future!