Merck Canada Reviews

I have been working at Merck Canada

Pros – Well balance career /personal life

Cons – Too much time to advance!

Advice to Senior Management – What you say in townhallmeetings IS important so pick your words carefully. That way you will not have surprised faces!,

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Merck Canada full-time

Pros – higher salaries and benefits than other industries, as per pharma practices

Cons – Very set in their ways, even in the face of embarrassing lawsuits, forced downsizing and empty buildings. The only way to keep a job there is to focus your attention on watching your back, not on actual performance.

Advice to Senior Management – Get real about changing the culture. Look where the old ways have gotten you in Canada: investing millions in a pompous block-long campus that is now a cavernous holding station for a few folks who can't leave because they are financially seduced by their eventual retirement packages....

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Merck Canada full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Great to have on your resume.. for 5 - 10 years. Be prepared to live in Montreal and spend. 2-3 years ...try to move into marketing as soon as possible, e.g. product management.

Cons – Subliminal racism within the Management ranks of working at Merck Canada.- for 15 years they had NO black, coloured/maletto or East Indian reps in Regional Management Positions.

Advice to Senior Management – If you're asking for 110%, then remunerate at the 80th percentile, anything lower is exploitation

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Merck Canada

Pros – A good place to run your territory like your own small business.

Cons – Process heavy. Lots of reporting that does not seem to have a positive affect on bottom line results.

I worked at Merck Canada

Pros – The 'Merck' People were great.

Cons – The 'Schering' People.

Expect that your job will last only for the next 3 years and be ready to move on at that time.

Advice to Senior Management – Get rid of the Schering influence at HO and the company may become great again.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Merck Canada

Pros – Flexibility, work independently, intelectually interesting work, benefits, income potential, comapny vehicle

Cons – Stress, travel, poor morale, downsizing, loss of patent exclusivity. New president unknown in terms of leadership style and ability

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Merck Canada

Pros – Salary is in top ten in Industry and has a reputation of having the some of the Top Representatives

Cons – Was once a Company that was employee focused and saw them as an important part of Companies success,now they are a focus of cost reductions instead of upper Management.
Open Door policy no longer exists

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to the people that actually add to the bottom line,Sales is the face of the company and are in touch with there customers,not like Management who PUSH THERE Culture/agenda.
Once had a reputaion of being in touch with Sales,no longer so.........toooo Bad!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Merck Canada

Pros – This wasa a great place to work because of the people, the facility, the available research equipment and the quality of work that was produced. Work ethics and efficiency shown by the group was the model dreamed of by the whole company.

Cons – We were not located in the US, so we were considered an off shore site. This was always a challenge for us. We needed to work extra hard to get our ideas accepted by the US sites.

Advice to Senior Management – Think about getting back a research group. The canadian site was strong and well respected because of its research and its contribution to the community. I worry that you will not be as strong a company or site without the research group.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Merck Canada

Pros – The main advantage of work at Merck Frosst research is the relative lack of budget restrictions. With that feature, scientists were able to focus on the work and collaborate really well. There were no unanswered questions due to budgets. Very different than most enterprises.

Cons – A small subsidiary of a large corporation means harmonisation, management at arms-length and forced global initiatives. If you can get past those things, then a great place to work.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop being so arm's length. I understand with a greater number of direct reports, HR work offloaded onto the managers, there's less face time. However, this is critical to really understand what the employees are doing.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Merck Canada

Pros – Good historical company, with good scientists and facilities. Tradition is valued, as is hard work and the benefits are good. No work on weekends

Cons – Merger has created a difficult atmosphere to work in. Uncertainty about sites, research projects, and future areas of focus has hurt productivity

Advice to Senior Management – Continue to communicate to the work force about network decisisons and cut out some of the beurocracy with procedures and let scientists be creative