Raised my hand and this shit bag company keep me! That was the worst day I had at Mrk! Left for biotech last year and I made twice my Mrk target bonus in 6 months. Best move I've ever made just wish I would have got the six figure going away gift!
Raised my hand and this shit bag company keep me! That was the worst day I had at Mrk! Left for biotech last year and I made twice my Mrk target bonus in 6 months. Best move I've ever made just wish I would have got the six figure going away gift!
The only reason the rest of us tenured folks are still here is for the "going away gift"...it will be a lower six figure amount in 2012, but I won't leave on my own without it. Only about 7 months to go...I'll hang in there, even if by a thread!
this person defnitely gets it...great post...Many don't realize how toxic and bizarre (thin religious cult) Merck is until they get out from under it...I'm not sure when the joy of visiting this site will fade, but for now, I still get a great amount of satisfaction to read these threads. The peace that comes with having a real job where peers and management work together for something is compounded by the reminder of how humiliating being a rep at Merck was. Besides being dismissed and looked down upon by physicians (Yes, all reps are.) and being at the mercy of power happy minimum-wage receptionist, you have Merck itself working against you.
There are the managers who will kill careers at the drop of a hat to protect their own, upper management who view sales reps as peons, and peers who hang by a thread, willing to throw anyone under the bus if it means taking heat off themselves. It's a poisonous cesspool and a dog-eat-dog fight for survival. Before joining Merck, I worked professionally for years, and I had never even heard of a PIP. My current employer doesn't utilize them either. Believe it or not, other industries use positive motivation! Merck not only uses them, they use them recklessly to thin the herd. So it's the constant threat of being laid-off and/or a contrived PIP that is always hanging over your head. Sure there have been lay-offs in industries across the board, but this has never been about the economy with Merck. It's about a company being a shadow of its former self that no longer sees the need for numbers in the field that it used to.
We ex-Merck brethren have an understanding of each other. We know what it's like to endure that misery and escape it!
I'm not sure when the joy of visiting this site will fade, but for now, I still get a great amount of satisfaction to read these threads. The peace that comes with having a real job where peers and management work together for something is compounded by the reminder of how humiliating being a rep at Merck was. Besides being dismissed and looked down upon by physicians (Yes, all reps are.) and being at the mercy of power happy minimum-wage receptionist, you have Merck itself working against you.
There are the managers who will kill careers at the drop of a hat to protect their own, upper management who view sales reps as peons, and peers who hang by a thread, willing to throw anyone under the bus if it means taking heat off themselves. It's a poisonous cesspool and a dog-eat-dog fight for survival. Before joining Merck, I worked professionally for years, and I had never even heard of a PIP. My current employer doesn't utilize them either. Believe it or not, other industries use positive motivation! Merck not only uses them, they use them recklessly to thin the herd. So it's the constant threat of being laid-off and/or a contrived PIP that is always hanging over your head. Sure there have been lay-offs in industries across the board, but this has never been about the economy with Merck. It's about a company being a shadow of its former self that no longer sees the need for numbers in the field that it used to.
We ex-Merck brethren have an understanding of each other. We know what it's like to endure that misery and escape it!
I'm not sure when the joy of visiting this site will fade, but for now, I still get a great amount of satisfaction to read these threads. The peace that comes with having a real job where peers and management work together for something is compounded by the reminder of how humiliating being a rep at Merck was. Besides being dismissed and looked down upon by physicians (Yes, all reps are.) and being at the mercy of power happy minimum-wage receptionist, you have Merck itself working against you.
There are the managers who will kill careers at the drop of a hat to protect their own, upper management who view sales reps as peons, and peers who hang by a thread, willing to throw anyone under the bus if it means taking heat off themselves. It's a poisonous cesspool and a dog-eat-dog fight for survival. Before joining Merck, I worked professionally for years, and I had never even heard of a PIP. My current employer doesn't utilize them either. Believe it or not, other industries use positive motivation! Merck not only uses them, they use them recklessly to thin the herd. So it's the constant threat of being laid-off and/or a contrived PIP that is always hanging over your head. Sure there have been lay-offs in industries across the board, but this has never been about the economy with Merck. It's about a company being a shadow of its former self that no longer sees the need for numbers in the field that it used to.
We ex-Merck brethren have an understanding of each other. We know what it's like to endure that misery and escape it!
This is a great, great post - I'm with you, brother. To work for an employer that has created and supports such a sick and often threatening employer-employee relationship is absurd. While I take pleasure from the satisfaction of being ex-Merck, I would still welcome and celebrate a turnaround where Merck once again received recognition as the most admired corporation. That will require a miracle, however.
Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and its brother, the Stockholm Syndrome at its finest.
Definitely exhibiting the Stockholm Syndrome. To admit her errors and re-invent herself to return to the old glorious Merck means all the current crop of management has to go. Not possible. They have lied and cheated all the way to reach their current positions. They are not going to simply disappear. They absolutely believe the sales force needs another quarterly tune-up and reconfiguration to achieve the goal.
Hi all ex-Merckies....I'm also an ex-Merckie. I was downsized, so I didn't leave on my own. I'm finding it difficult to even get an interview. How long were you umemployed before finding new work? Have you switched industries? Any advice? I'm getting very discouraged with my job search and would like to communicate with others who have been in the same position. Thanks so much.
Still at Merck myself, but know of others in your position. Some decided to take work with a contract sales organization, making less money but still doing the same work (OK for women for whom this is a second income, and can tolerate the significantly lower compensation without loss of self-esteem). I know of others who are doing things totally unrelated to sales. I myself, if a victim in the next round of layoffs, will never do pharma again...it is so over.
You may have a problem when they look at your resume and you want to go in a new direction. Tough to do can mean entry level paycheck which equal to a contact salary. Unless you have a working spouse or are lucky enough to have no mortgage, no bills few can go stay in contacts long...Consider other sales, some have paychecks that put pharma to shame.
hardest on the pride of those who remember the greatness of Merck. Folks with 10 years or less have no such memories, its just a job. It's not right or wrong, it just is. Pride makes it especially hard when after so much investment of self you become "involuntarily seperated." But that hurt goes away too, you move on, forget and find out eventually you don't really care what becomes of merck.
So true. The "younger" Merck reps operate very differently. May be it is a generational thing. You sense they are looking out for themselves at all cost. You notice they are much better in highlighting themselves than the older reps. More creative. More opportunistic. But, it's 3 pm EST and I am getting ready to do some fun stuff. No more nightmares about field visits with Little Napoleons (male managers) or Ugly Bettys (female managers than act and look like guys).
