Race to the bottom - Scientist Merck Employee Review

1.0
Mar 1, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible work schedule Still a lot of highly talented scientists

Cons

Upper management no longer treats its employees with dignity; it treats them like a commodity. No investment in employees' skills--the first thing they cut when profits slide is the training budget. No opportunity for advancement unless you have the right connections. Workload is incredibly high and the scientific staff is stretched to the breaking point.

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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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