Insights

The latest from Global Profession Services can be found here

Please see below for our most recent UK thought leadership.

Navigating A Merger – Insights From Inside A&O Shearman

Jennifer Millar, Aon’s Professional Services Industry Vertical Leader, EMEA, recently had the opportunity to speak with some of the senior leaders at A&O Shearman about their ambitious merger and they offered some fascinating insights into the complexity and collaboration that is required to make such a merger successful. We are pleased to be able to share their thoughts with our Professional Services clients and friends.

The Importance of Cyber Resilience for Financial and Economic Stability

Aon partnered with TheCityUK to deliver a series of three webinars covering cyber risk and resilience to TheCityUK’s financial institutions and professional services members. Bringing together senior leaders and practitioners from across the industry, these webinars considered the importance of cyber resilience for financial and economic stability, and what measures are needed to boost organisational resilience. In this article, we’ll explore the key points that were raised throughout these discussions.

Building a Future Ready Workforce for the Professional Services Industry

The need to attract and retain high-quality talent in an environment of intense competition is at the forefront of professional services leaders’ minds. Competition for top talent has always been intense, but the stakes are particularly high for professional services firms because human capital is their most crucial asset and a key source of growth and innovation. In the quest to secure the most in-demand skills, professional services firms are now competing for talent with sectors they may not have previously considered as rivals.

Megatrends and Risk – How to Navigate the Impacts

Aon’s Professional Services Practice discusses the Aon 2024 Client Trends Report and its relevance to professional service firms. Emerging conditions labelled Megatrends could pose challenges outside of traditional risks. These Megatrends may be slow to develop but have the potential to present significant risks for professional service firms. In responding to Megatrends, firms should widen the risk identification horizon, adopt a multiskilled approach, and focus on resilience.

Top Risks Facing Professional Service Firms

Professional Service respondents to our Global Risk Management Survey (GRMS) ranked cyber attack or data breach and failure to attract or retain top talent as their two most critical risks. Professional service firms are facing an increasing number of challenges. Rapidly evolving client needs, changing legal and regulatory requirements, changes in service lines, accelerated technology evolution and the need to attract and retain high-quality talent in an environment of intense competition were at the forefront of participants’ minds when selecting their top 10 current and future risks.

The Mechanics of Lawyer Well-Being: Intervention and Return to Work

The Professional Services Practice’s Loss Prevention team recounts the guidance of three lawyer well-being professionals at the recent Aon Law Symposium to law firm leaders on intervention and successful return to work for lawyers impaired by mental health issues.

The Top Five HR Trends to Watch for in 2024

To support Professional Services and Legal firms HR leaders navigate the volatile forces impacting workforces today, we connected with clients and human capital leaders across Aon to identify the five biggest HR trends to watch in 2024. The trends centre around some of the biggest risks to Professional Services and Legal firms today.

Pay Transparency – a Global Movement

Pay Equity is a driving force behind the new laws, regulation and the changing attitude and expectation for pay transparency that is sweeping across the Globe. What action can you take now to mitigate the risks around equal pay and pay transparency?

When is a Cyber Crime not a “Cyber-Crime”?

Social engineering fraud (SEF), also often referred to as Business Email Compromise (BEC), is rapidly becoming a major risk, arguably overtaking ransomware. Law firms have long been among the more frequent and lucrative targets for social engineering fraud. However, it is not only law firms and not just delinquent debt scams. We are seeing all professional service firms targeted with variations on fraudulent invoice scams, wire transfer fraud and email compromise.

How Professional Service Firms Can Use a Captive to Release Value from a UK Defined Benefit Pension Scheme

Companies running defined benefit (DB) pension schemes effectively self-insure their obligations to pay future pensions. As schemes mature and become better funded, a common aim is to discharge pensions risk by insuring. Typically this means buying out the scheme’s liabilities by purchasing a bulk annuity from an insurance company. While this enables the pension obligations to be passed to the insurance company, in many markets globally this is relatively expensive. An alternative approach, which avoids this external insurance cost and allows surplus pension assets to be paid back to the sponsoring employer, is to self-insure through the employer’s own captive.

Prevention is Better Than Cure

Can workforce wellbeing offset rising healthcare costs? In an environment of rising healthcare costs and affordability challenges, a proactive approach to workforce wellbeing can help alleviate these business stresses.

Risk Bulletin – Winter Digest 2022

Risk Bulletin – A Summer Digest 2022

Risk Bulletin – Summer Edition 2022

Workplace Futures: The Value of the ‘Social Contract’ in ESG

Failure to be true to ‘good’ moral standards can lead to reputational damage and - in some instances - financial damage through executive liability. This event is intended to demystify and discuss some of the related key themes, such as:

Transforming workplace culture and adopting D&I practices
Retaining and attracting quality talent through the ‘Great Resignation’
Implementing strategies and solutions to strengthen effective leadership and governance
Reviewing protection for your board from ESG liabilities if things were to go wrong

Watch the LIVE session recordings or read the brief written summaries of the key themes discussed HERE