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.

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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.

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