Revolving Door for Salaried Positions - Specialist, Engineering Merck Employee Review

2.0
Oct 28, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

People are very personable and friendly. A lot of very cutting-edge software and tools at your disposal. You will learn a lot in your first few years. Equipment and automation systems are well ahead of the curve for the industry, even for pharma. Relationships between managers and direct reports are typically very good.

Cons

There are 0 checks and balances against an overly-powerful, under-qualified Union. Leadership is concerned only with how they are perceived, not with how they actually function. Very low morale across every department. "We" vs. "They" mentality across all departments. Inter-departmental relations are starting to break down. Entire technical departments have completely turned over several times within the last 3-4 years. Quality systems are very clunky and result in a lot of non-value-added work. Visual management and communication cascades are extremely broken. Training of salary employees is nearly non-existent, despite very specific software and processes.

Explore other reviews about Merck

5.0
Jun 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Excellent company to work with.

Cons

No cons encountered so far

4.0
Jun 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great benefits like medical/dentist/vision, pension, stock option, 401k match. Co workers are excellent, pretty good on site symposiums, lot of diversity clubs/activities. Innovation is extremely welcomed. Diversity in research portfolio. AI/ML is heavily invested to make databases more efficient.

Cons

Micro managing, especially within the biologics department, potentially others. Promotions are limited, and pay bump is poor. Company invests too much in buying companies rather than keeping talent - lay offs let go of great talented people. Merck is afraid of investing into exploratory biology and doesn’t take risk - they even admit they would rather see other companies clinical data or R&D data rather than taking a risk. Although it’s slow going in building new software, current databases are slow and needs much improvement. Extremely poor work/life balance.

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