Mercer and RW3 CultureWizard Help LGBT Business Executives Make Informed Decisions When Conducting Business across Cultures

CulturalTrainingPassport™ now features country-specific cultural
insights and content relevant to LGBT employees

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–With the spotlight on LGBT rights and workforce diversity, Mercer, a
global consulting leader in advancing health, wealth, and careers, and
RW3 CultureWizard, a provider of online, mobile and instructor-led
cultural learning for the global business community, have enhanced their
co-created CulturalTrainingPassport™ tool to include comprehensive
content for LGBT executives and expatriates.

CulturalTrainingPassport, an assignment tool for mobile employees and
business travelers going abroad, provides country-specific cultural
training in an engaging, easy-to-use online format that is
cost-effective for HR managers. Along with affordable training courses,
users will now find country-by-country information that sheds light on
attitudes towards the LGBT community for more than 100 countries around
the world.

“Business executives want to feel safe, secure, and informed when
traveling the world on behalf of their organizations,” said Charlene
Solomon, president of RW3 CultureWizard. “Given the varying cultural
situations for the LGBT community in major economic markets across the
globe, information about LGBT-specific cultural norms can be difficult
to gather and assess. This hard task is now a little easier for
CulturalTrainingPassport users as they can now access content to make
more informed decisions enabling them to conduct business abroad more
effectively.”

According to Mercer’s North America LGBT Pulse Mobility Survey, almost
two-thirds (61%) of organizations are not aware of the local and
cultural environment or legal conditions for LGBT employees in all the
locations in which they operate. Moreover, 73% of the cultural training
offered to internationally mobile employees does not include information
regarding LGBT considerations.

Users of CulturalTrainingPassport would learn nuances like The
Netherlands is progressive regarding LGBT rights with legalized equal
marriage, while the LGBT community in some Middle Eastern nations has
faced discrimination and punishment. Such nuances between local law and
social acceptance are critical for business travellers to be aware of in
foreign lands.

“Sexual orientation requires self-identification,” said Michael Grover,
consultant in Mercer’s Career business, specializing in global mobility.
“Despite recent progress, many LGBT employees may not feel comfortable
asking for information about LGBT rights in the country to which they’re
traveling and employers do not know who to direct this information to.
An enterprise-wide solution like CulturalTrainingPassport allows
business travellers and expatriates to have location-specific
information at their fingertips, which can be used to facilitate better
business outcomes across borders.”

New content included in the platform will be housed within country
profiles alongside existing cultural content, including practical tips
for businesswomen and female travelers. Separately, articles provided in
the platform will now include data related to a range of sensitive
social considerations, including attitudes towards race and religion,
for 75 countries.

For more information, to try a demo, or to purchase
CulturalTrainingPassport paired with a new mobile application, visit https://mobilityexchange.mercer.com/cultural-training.

About Mercer

Mercer is a global consulting leader in talent, health, retirement and
investments. Mercer helps clients around the world advance the health,
wealth and careers of their most vital asset – their people. Mercer’s
more than 20,000 employees are based in 43 countries and the firm
operates in over 140 countries. Mercer is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh
& McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC), a global professional services
firm offering clients advice and solutions in the areas of risk,
strategy and people. With annual revenue of $13 billion and 60,000
colleagues worldwide, Marsh & McLennan Companies is also the parent
company of Marsh,
a leader in insurance broking and risk management; Guy
Carpenter, a leader in providing risk and reinsurance intermediary
services; and Oliver
Wyman, a leader in management consulting. For more information,
visit www.mercer.com.
Follow Mercer on Twitter @Mercer.

About RW3 LLC

RW3 LLC is an intercultural training consultancy that specializes in
creating online solutions and e-learning facilities for its
multinational organizations. Founded in 2001 and with offices in New
York, Los Angeles, and London, RW3 blends over 30 years of experience in
teaching global culture with cutting-edge technologies. In addition to a
wide array of online learning tools, the company’s services include
instructor led cross-cultural training, global and virtual team building
and international assignee support.

Contacts

GK Communications
Greg Kalish, 516-665-3292
gkalish@gkcomms.com
or
Mercer
Miriam
Siscovick, 206-356-8549
miriam.siscovick@mercer.com