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Layoff Package

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Be very careful what you wish for. I got a bridge and when I used it to cross to the other side, it wasn't what I was hoping to find. My bridge would have been better off broken.
 








I am legacy SP, If I know Merck....they will lay folks off after the SP package is no longer viable. What is the Merck package? Is it in writing anywhere? Do you think they will take volunteers?
 




Anonymous said:
I am legacy SP, If I know Merck....they will lay folks off after the SP package is no longer viable. What is the Merck package? Is it in writing anywhere? Do you think they will take volunteers?
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No they will just layoff who is going to be laid off regardless of SGP or MRK. Your salary is nothing for the company to cover, it is the benifiets, payroll tax, and all the other expenses there are with having an employee.
 












Anonymous said:
I am legacy SP, If I know Merck....they will lay folks off after the SP package is no longer viable. What is the Merck package? Is it in writing anywhere? Do you think they will take volunteers?
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I never understand why L-SP folks think their more generous severance (3wks/yr vs 2wks/yr) will persuade Merck to keep them around until 2012. The average employee has 7+/- years with the company. Keeping you employed for another 6+ months to avoid paying an extra 7 weeks in severance is penny-wise and pound-foolish. The MBA's will crunch the numbers (believe me they have people doing this right now) and they'll go with whatever the numbers say.

The extra severance is nice, but it will not save you if there are jobs cuts in the near future, which we all assume there will be. Good luck to all.
 




The previous poster is so right. There are many factors in the calculation of your worth to Merck. Age, vacation, salary, etc. Say if you are in the 20's Merck would assume they can squeeze more out of you until you yell for mercy versus a tenured rep who is financially set, close to retirement and more resistant to the NCM. Now for legal reasons they may not exactly say that when they present you with the severance package.
 




Anonymous said:
Salary is nothing???? Thought the big salaries were on the cut list.
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Well salaries are of you cut people, what I am saying is this. What you make is nothing compared to what Merck pays for you in benifiets, payroll tax, insurances, ect. This is the huge deduction they get. If you were making 100k (~$48/hr) salary, it is a better deal for them to lay you off and higher you back at $58/hr as a contract employee.
 




Anonymous said:
Well salaries are of you cut people, what I am saying is this. What you make is nothing compared to what Merck pays for you in benifiets, payroll tax, insurances, ect. This is the huge deduction they get. If you were making 100k (~$48/hr) salary, it is a better deal for them to lay you off and higher you back at $58/hr as a contract employee.
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CSO workers get little of that in pay or benefits. Quick step to D level employment....what a way to reward highly expereinced workers....
 




The new severance pkg is laid out in the 10K SEC filing that Merck made on Feb 28 2011.

The amount of severance is drastically reduced as of Jan 1 2012. This is teh absolute truth - Google the Merck SEC filing and look at exhibits A & B ( before 12/31/11 and after 1/1/12/.
 




Anonymous said:
I never understand why L-SP folks think their more generous severance (3wks/yr vs 2wks/yr) will persuade Merck to keep them around until 2012. The average employee has 7+/- years with the company. Keeping you employed for another 6+ months to avoid paying an extra 7 weeks in severance is penny-wise and pound-foolish. The MBA's will crunch the numbers (believe me they have people doing this right now) and they'll go with whatever the numbers say.

The extra severance is nice, but it will not save you if there are jobs cuts in the near future, which we all assume there will be. Good luck to all.
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I understand that the packages were included in the merger, but they should give the exact same to every employee. So if a merck employee unfortunatly got laid-off, that person would get a smaller package than someone with the exact same time put in if they were from SP? I hope I am wrong. Also don't expect a package now. It would be the right thing to do but that is not what Merck is all about. Personally I think they will wait until 2012 because even though it's 7 weeks, in 2012 they will make it 1 week a year from 3 weeks a year and that will be a savings of 14 weeks (3 1/2 months) of pay if they keep you for 7 more months.

hope I am wrong.
 




Anonymous said:
Salary is nothing???? Thought the big salaries were on the cut list.
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Salary is the number one determinant as to whom is targeted for removal, via layoff or pressure to leave. It is more of a determinant now than in previous "optimizations", however. You see, the severance packages offered next year will be drastically smaller than those offered in previous layoffs (it's on the Merck HR site).

Therefore, up to now, the highest salaried reps were more likely to get pushed out than laid off, especially if you're under 50 and white. (Sorry, folks, but that's the sad reality.) As of 1/1/12, however, the severances are going to be so much smaller that now Mother is just looking to trim the fat honestly. After all, they've driven hundreds of us away over the last couple of years, which saved Mother tons of cash by deleting those expensive salaries and avoiding the generous severance packages. The small severances that will come in January---and there will be many of them---will hit even what's left of the high-salaried people, which didn't happen as much in the previous layoffs.

It's all about the money, folks. Welcome to the New Merck.
 




Anonymous said:
Salary is the number one determinant as to whom is targeted for removal, via layoff or pressure to leave. It is more of a determinant now than in previous "optimizations", however. You see, the severance packages offered next year will be drastically smaller than those offered in previous layoffs (it's on the Merck HR site).

Therefore, up to now, the highest salaried reps were more likely to get pushed out than laid off, especially if you're under 50 and white. (Sorry, folks, but that's the sad reality.) As of 1/1/12, however, the severances are going to be so much smaller that now Mother is just looking to trim the fat honestly. After all, they've driven hundreds of us away over the last couple of years, which saved Mother tons of cash by deleting those expensive salaries and avoiding the generous severance packages. The small severances that will come in January---and there will be many of them---will hit even what's left of the high-salaried people, which didn't happen as much in the previous layoffs.

It's all about the money, folks. Welcome to the New Merck.
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That is such a wrong move. The high salary people did not get there by doing nothing. They are the ones with the experience and knowledge that can turn the ship around if upper upper management would listen to them with respect. There is no way in heck that a new person can ever do what a seasoned person can do. I have learn more from older people who have experience than a new person who does not even understand the process.
 




Merck is no longer about doing things well. So excellence, experience, and dedication to getting it right are of little value to Merck. Employees of Merck that came on board when the opposite was true will make more a few bad choices before this fact sinks in. There is nothing that Merck will not destroy in order to make its short-term numbers. Employees are a major inconvenience to the leaders.
 




so I hear that the LSP employees are thinking of a class action suit based on the way performance appraisals were used to give more to LM employees and less to LSP employees .... I for one will join .... anyone else out there?
 




Anonymous said:
Salary is the number one determinant as to whom is targeted for removal, via layoff or pressure to leave. It is more of a determinant now than in previous "optimizations", however. You see, the severance packages offered next year will be drastically smaller than those offered in previous layoffs (it's on the Merck HR site).

Therefore, up to now, the highest salaried reps were more likely to get pushed out than laid off, especially if you're under 50 and white. (Sorry, folks, but that's the sad reality.) As of 1/1/12, however, the severances are going to be so much smaller that now Mother is just looking to trim the fat honestly. After all, they've driven hundreds of us away over the last couple of years, which saved Mother tons of cash by deleting those expensive salaries and avoiding the generous severance packages. The small severances that will come in January---and there will be many of them---will hit even what's left of the high-salaried people, which didn't happen as much in the previous layoffs.

It's all about the money, folks. Welcome to the New Merck.
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Severance of 1 week per year is what I'm told. For people with 15-30 years this is still low but time to get a start on job searches. For those with less than ten years its pretty foul. How can you insult people by cutting them then put them in hard times especially in this economy? The older you are the harder it is to get any interviews or offers. All about money and padding pockets but not the pockets that need padding!
 




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