WTW – making a success of a merger
We helped WTW to make the merger of Willis and Towers Watson a success. By creating a single, collaborative community, WTW has been able to reduce its business costs, while benefitting from new contracts attributable to cross-selling and increased social cohesion.
The situation
WTW (formerly Willis Towers Watson) is one of the world’s largest risk management and professional services organizations. Following the merger of Willis and Towers Watson in 2015, the company has a network of more than 600 offices across 140 countries.
As part of the merger with Towers Watson, WTW wanted to transition to hybrid working and consolidate its office portfolio. It was also aware of the difficulties that can arise from mergers and sought to avoid these by unifying the cultures of both firms.
Our approach
We are proud to have worked with Willis for more than 20 years. In the process we have become a trusted partner, providing end-to-end workplace change management services for the business around the world.
After conducting a successful initial pilot in WTW’s London office, a detailed company playbook was developed which was subsequently used to guide the implementation of hybrid working in other WTW locations. Over a four-year period, we successfully completed 26 local projects with WTW across the globe. These include offices in countries such as the UK, the US, Germany, Mexico and Singapore. In Chicago, for example, 600 Towers Watson employees relocated to the Willis Tower to create a new, cohesive community.
During this time, we implemented our bespoke WTW Change Management Framework. We approached the programme sensitively, adapting to local leadership styles and culture while working hand in glove with WTW’s CRE and workplace leaders.
The optimized work environment helped to ensure the merger was a success. The programme saved WTW more than a $100 million run rate every year and was anecdotally responsible for the creation of many new contracts that were a consequence of cross-selling and increased social cohesion.
