15 year employee, various roles - Director Merck Employee Review

2.0
Nov 8, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Merck once offered an experience like no other, great people and science. It was the "Google" of Pharma. It had one of the most enriching work cultures a person could find. I was lucky to get the job...

Cons

The company no longer relies on science or innovation. Today's Merck is about the bottom line and uses employee reductions as a way to manage the company. Not an innovative way to manage such a great company.

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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