Some Marsh workers in new unit

Twenty-three Spokane office workers who’ve been at business services provider Marsh have now become a newly formed unit called Mercer Health & Benefits.

The office is the first Spokane operation for global provider Mercer Human Resource Consulting, which itself is a subsidiary of Marsh and McLennan Cos., one of the nation’s largest insurance firms.

The change is primarily a rebranding of the same business brokerage services already provided here by Marsh, said Mark Patrick, benefits practice leader for Mercer Health & Benefits.

His group focuses on brokering employee and manager benefits for Spokane area firms, said Patrick. Services range from medical and dental benefit plans to executive compensation and 401(k) packages. The company works with companies as small as five and as large as 3,000 workers, he added.

“There’s essentially no change in our services and doesn’t affect our customers at all,” said Patrick.

Its workers will remain on the 13th floor of the Washington Mutual Financial Center, 601 W. Main. Before being acquired by Marsh, that group formerly were part of Spokane-based Sedgwick James, said Patrick.

One added asset will be local access to advanced services offered by Mercer Consulting’s Seattle office, Patrick said. They include specialized worker benefit plans and management incentive packages.

Marsh’s Spokane unit of 41 workers will still provide business consulting services in the area of risk management and property and casualty insurance, said Mark Neupert of Marsh. They are remaining on the 14th floor of the Washington Mutual downtown building.

Nationwide Marsh has more than 30,000 workers and delivers services to companies in more than 100 countries. Marsh acquired Sedgewick James’ Spokane office about 30 years ago, said Patrick.

The two units — Mercer and Marsh — will continue to exchange services and work collaboratively, said Patrick.