There are now 10 coalitions of leading companies around the world that we formed to export the societal and economic implications of the pandemic.
Our global team delivered outstanding results across each of our key financial metrics, including 6% organic revenue growth, a very strong start to the year on top of 5% organic in Q1 2020.
Substantial operating margin expansion of 170 basis points, 16% earnings per share growth, and 91% free cash flow growth.
Commercial Risk delivered 9% organic, an outstanding result with very strong new business growth and growth in project-related work and double-digit growth in transaction liability.
Reinsurance delivered 6% growth with strong net new business in treaty and double-digit growth in facultative placements.
Retirement Solutions delivered 5% growth, and I would highlight strength in core retirement and double-digit growth in Human Capital.
Health Solutions growth of 4% was driven by strength in the core, offset by pressure in project work.
And data and analytics continue to see pressure from the travel and events practice globally, resulting in a 2% organic decline, so against the prior Q1 quarter of pre-pandemic results.
Specifically, only two in five organizations report they are prepared to navigate new exposures, and only 17% report having adequate application security measures in place.
And on a recent Grey Swan report, we look back at 40 years of corporate crisis, analyzing 300 examples that show the significant impact on shareholder value due to lack of preparedness.
The total impact represents $1.2 trillion in destroyed value and in 10% of the events, 50% of shareholder value was lost.
As Greg mentioned, we delivered a strong operational and financial performance in the first quarter to start the year, highlighted by 6% organic revenue growth that translated into double-digit growth in operating income, earnings per share, and free cash flow.
As I further reflect on the quarter, we delivered organic revenue growth of 6%, driven by ongoing strength in our core business with an uneven recovery in our more discretionary areas.
I would also note that total reported revenue was up 10% including the favorable impact from changes in FX, primarily driven by a weaker U.S. dollar versus the euro.
Second, we delivered strong operational improvement with operating income growth of 15% and operating margin expansion of 170 basis points to 37.4%.
In 2021, compared to 2020, we expect approximately $200 million less expense to be recognized in the fourth quarter, offset by approximately $135 million more expense in Q2 and $65 million more expense in Q3.
Put another way, we expect $135 million of expense to move from Q4 to Q2 and $65 million of expense to move from Q4 to Q3 when comparing to our expectations for the remainder of 2021 to prior year results, prior to any growth occurring.
This shift, representing about 2% of our annual cost base is primarily due to the actions we took and highlighted last year, including the reduction of certain discretionary expenses, including variable compensation in Q2 and Q3 of 2020.
This process has been live since the 1st of January 2021 and has over 13,000 transactions executed.
We translated strong operational performance into earnings per share growth of 16%.
As noted in our earnings material, FX translation was a favorable impact of approximately $0.18 in the quarter.
If currency to remain stable at today's rates, we'd expect a $0.04 per share favorable impact in Q2, a $0.02 per share favorable impact in Q3, and a $0.01 per share favorable impact in Q4.
Free cash flow increased 91% to $532 million, primarily driven by strong operational improvement, a decrease in restructuring cash outlays, and a decrease in capex.
Looking forward, we expect to drive free cash flow growth over the long term, building on our 10-year track record of 14% CAGR growth in free cash flow, including 64% growth to $2.6 billion free cash flow in 2020.
We make capital allocation decisions based on our ROIC framework, highlighted by $50 million of share repurchase in the first quarter.
We also repaid $400 million of term debt in February.
We continue to anticipate $800 million of cost synergies, taking into account the remedies offered.

Summary:
I would also note that total reported revenue was up 10% including the favorable impact from changes in FX, primarily driven by a weaker U.S. dollar versus the euro.