Human Resource consulting firms are seeing some positive signs these days—modest quarterly and year-on-year revenue growth. However, with two of the largest firms, merger integration is the bigger headline.

Aon Hewitt
Excluding the acquisition of Hewitt, Aon's total revenue increased $7 million in third quarter 2010, essentially unchanged from 2009, and increased $81 million, or 1 percent, on a year-to-date basis. The 4 percent increase in the consulting segment was driven by 4 percent organic revenue growth, reflecting strong growth in outsourcing and solid growth in compensation consulting and international health and benefits.

Aon closed its $4.9 billion acquisition of Hewitt on Oct. 1 and is now known as Aon Hewitt. The firm is primarily focused on a global restructuring plan, which will continue through the end of 2013. The goal is to streamline operations across the combined Aon Hewitt organization. The firm anticipates cutting $180 million from employee terminations and approximately $145 million in real estate lease rationalization costs. The firm expects to carve out about $355 million in annual cost savings by 2013.

Towers Watson
Meanwhile, Towers Watson, which combined on Jan. 1, increased its net quarterly income to $33 million, up from $30 million in the same three months of last year. "The global financial crisis presents a challenging environment, but we are pleased with our profitability and our progress with integration," Towers Watson CEO John Haley told investors on the earning call last month: "Having done a lot of the hard integration work, we are well positioned to capitalize on the strengths of our combined organization, and we will continue our focus on profitable growth."

Towers Watson anticipates this quarter's revenues will be between $770 million and $800 million, up from the $751 million reported in its most recent quarter.

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