Merck Reviews in Philadelphia, PA Area

Pros

1. Work/life balance
2. Benefits
3. Great opportunity to learn

Cons

1. Lot of favoritism
2. Complex processes
3. Difficult to get approval for professional trainings

Advice to Senior Management

Make sure you get the inputs from people who have hands on experience while making decisions

Pros

Merck has products in many therapeutic areas and an excellent pipeline.

Cons

Merck did not compensate their sales representatives fairly. When you are considered a "specialty" representative, and are earning 15-20k less on average than many primary care representatives, it is a disgrace.

Pros

- Good benefits
- Work life balance
- Good place to gain experience

Cons

- No room to grow

Pros

Very caring supervisor and manager, lots of creativity, dynamic work place, and people were fun to be around. Open communications and lots of constructive feedback on my work.

Cons

Location was difficult to get to; by public transportation it was 90 minutes from Philadelphia. If you want to live in the city, this will be difficult. However, the suburbs around the site itself are nice and quiet.

Pros

Good pay scale and benefits package compared to similar job outside of Merck. You get to meet and work with a lot of talented people.

Cons

If you are not on a "career track" you can get stuck in that position. There are too many management level positions and too many power struggles. It used to be that employees retired from Merck. Not any more.

Pros

People, People, People: Merck Hires The Best and Brightest; People are committed to addressing deviations; Great products that actually save lives.

Cons

On-going re-structuring; very stressed colleagues; expected to work >60 hours; forced ranking during performance reviews; impending layoffs; limited opportunities; highly inefficient business processes. Best and Brightest are not deployed to the best of their abilities.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay attention to middle managers and how their leadership mindset may be demotivating great colleagues.

Pros

Great place for professionals and chance for career advancement

Cons

Less sharing of information within company

Advice to Senior Management

Try to recruit the best professinals

Pros

flexibility for work-life balance, good compensation (especially at non-urban sites) where cost of living is lower. Significant resources when correctly focused.

Cons

Mission drift, little respect for employees except as units, R&D is no longer world-class. Senior leadership distracted by internal politics. Mediocrity is the result.

Advice to Senior Management

Develop a meaningful employee development path. Hold all grades accountable for results. Stop rearranging the deck chairs while Merck is sinking.

Pros

Flexible work schedule, great benefits, and opportunities to grow.

Cons

Can get lost in the numbers and not always sure that upper management knows what the workers are doing and the time they put in to their work

Advice to Senior Management

Try to get to know what the lowers grades within the company are doing and the hard work and hours they commit to seeing things through.

Pros

Fair compensation
Opportunities for professional development
High Caliber Colleagues to learn from
Good place to launch a career

Cons

Going through significant change
Employees are overworked and under appreciated
The future is uncertain - pipeline not producing

Advice to Senior Management

Remember that your employees determine your success. Seek ways to improve culture scores and internal environment.