Not a happy place to be. - Staff Biochemist Merck Employee Review

2.0
May 26, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Salary and benefits were decent. My department had nice people and good teambuilding events.

Cons

The atmosphere is pretty negative due to constant attrition. No one ever knows if they'll have a job in 6 months;. Also, a lot non-management scientists are "do-ers", not thinkers- management often didn't trust intelligent lower-level scientists to think for themselves. Promotions are also extremely hard to come by, but former colleagues recently told me that they're beginning to promote again.

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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