Businessweek

Towers Watson & Co. operates as a professional services company worldwide. The company offers solutions in the areas of benefits, talent management, rewards, and risk and capital management. The company delivers consulting services and solutions that help organizations anticipate, identify, and capitalize on emerging opportunities in benefit and human capital management. It advises the insurance industry on a range of strategic and risk management issues, and helps its clients mitigate risk through insurance, reinsurance, and capital market transactions. It also provides investment advice and solutions to help its clients develop and implement strategies to meet their investment goals. Segments The company offers its clients services across four business segments: Benefits, Risk and Financial Services, Talent and Rewards, and Exchange Solutions. BENEFITS This segment provides benefits consulting and administration services through four primary lines of business, including Retirement, Health and Group Benefits, Technology and Administration Solutions, and International Consulting. Retirement The company’s Retirement business supports organizations in designing, managing, administering, and communicating all types of retirement plans worldwide. It provides actuarial and consulting services for large defined benefit and defined contribution plans, including design, funding, and risk management strategies. It also helps its clients assess the effects of changing workforce demographics on their retirement plans, cash flow requirements, and retiree benefit adequacy and security. The company provides actuarial services to approximately 300 pension funds worldwide. In the United States, it provides actuarial services to 5 of the 6 major corporate-sponsored defined benefit plans (based on total pension plan assets), and in the United Kingdom, it advises 34 of the 100 major corporate pension funds. It also has positions in Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands. The company offers clients a range of integrated retirement consulting services to meet the needs of all types of employers, including those that continue to offer defined benefit plans and those that are reexamining their retirement benefit strategies. The company offers integrated solutions that combine investment consulting, pension administration, core actuarial services, and communication assistance. Its retirement consulting services include retirement strategy and plan design; actuarial services and related support; retirement plan financial management; settlement solutions; compliance and governance strategies; risk management; and defined contribution solutions. Health and Group Benefits The company’s Health and Group Benefits business supports organizations in designing, managing, administering, and communicating all types of health and group benefit plans worldwide. It provides plan management consulting across the spectrum of health and group benefit programs, including health, dental, disability, life, and other coverage. It provides services to large and mid-size organizations. The company’s Health and Group Benefits consulting services help employers to provide health and welfare benefits designed to attract and retain qualified employees and improve the health, productivity of their workforce, and cost control. In addition to its consulting services, the company manages various collective purchasing initiatives (pharmacy and stop-loss) that enable employers to achieve value from third-party service providers than they could realize on their own. The company’s global services include program strategy, design, and pricing; employee engagement in health benefits; health condition management consulting; pharmacy benefit management consulting; absence and disability management consulting; workforce evaluation and wellness, and health promotion consulting; performance measurement and monitoring; the development of funding strategies and forecasting, budgeting, and reserve setting; vendor evaluation, selection, and management; claims audits and pre- and post-implementation audits; and regulatory compliance. Technology and Adm