Merck job cuts set to accelerate

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The leadership in research is responsible for this mess. They built a lousy pipeline, then when in distress they tried to pick up the pipeline from another company (SP), which is no better than their own. Bad decisions after bad decisions, fire them all. They are a bunch of incompetent idiots.
 






Anonymous said:
They already have the first round people picked out. There will be many more rounds. If you have been at Merck/SP for 10-15 years there is a 99% chance of going in one of the first rounds. If your under 40 you can't file a age discrimination lawsuit. They are retooling the whole company. Managers have never been at risk will soon become the main target at least in the USA. This layoff cycle will not end until mid 2013 in the USA. The other geographic regions will actually add people.
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This is false and should be ignored. If you bring value to the company, chances are good you will be kept on board. The ones that are at risk of layoff prob already know it. Will things be tough? Absolutely. But it makes no sense to layoff good employees based on these superficial criteria. Keep your head up and be positive.
 






Anonymous said:
This is false and should be ignored. If you bring value to the company, chances are good you will be kept on board. The ones that are at risk of layoff prob already know it. Will things be tough? Absolutely. But it makes no sense to layoff good employees based on these superficial criteria. Keep your head up and be positive.
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Thank you, Mr. Merck Manager, for continuing to treat us all like idiots. Dumba$$.
 






Anonymous said:
This is false and should be ignored. If you bring value to the company, chances are good you will be kept on board. The ones that are at risk of layoff prob already know it. Will things be tough? Absolutely. But it makes no sense to layoff good employees based on these superficial criteria. Keep your head up and be positive.
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Perhaps you would be kind enough to explain the details for all of the clearly value-adding ex-colleagues, some of which were the best Merck could ever hope for, that have been fired over the last 5 years. These layoff decisions too often have been about as arbitrary as the management is insecure. Layoff season (at merck that is every season) is a good opportunity to eliminate your competition.
 






Anonymous said:
Perhaps you would be kind enough to explain the details for all of the clearly value-adding ex-colleagues, some of which were the best Merck could ever hope for, that have been fired over the last 5 years. These layoff decisions too often have been about as arbitrary as the management is insecure. Layoff season (at merck that is every season) is a good opportunity to eliminate your competition.
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Thanks for your post that makes sense. To the poster you responded to, how naive can you be???? You never want to underestimate the ability of Merck to do something that makes no sense...their track record should enlighten you otherwise.
 






Anonymous said:
This is false and should be ignored. If you bring value to the company, chances are good you will be kept on board. The ones that are at risk of layoff prob already know it. Will things be tough? Absolutely. But it makes no sense to layoff good employees based on these superficial criteria. Keep your head up and be positive.
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WOW, actually Bean counter make the decision. I have experienced this before and maybe you have not. Merck places no value on their employees. It does not make sense to layoff a good employee but look at what Merck has done so far. Are you saying that the people who have been lay-offed and will be were sub-par and brought no value to the table? I have worked with many who are not here now and you are a fool. You must be a manager because Merck has a stupidity test and you passed with flying colors.
 






Anonymous said:
This is false and should be ignored. If you bring value to the company, chances are good you will be kept on board. The ones that are at risk of layoff prob already know it. Will things be tough? Absolutely. But it makes no sense to layoff good employees based on these superficial criteria. Keep your head up and be positive.
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Yes, all you can do is your job. Keep your focus but be prepared.
The layoff will be conducted, like before, after the 'consultant' gets done with their evaluation. It will not be a performance issue that gets most people cut. Rather, the consultant performs an evaluation to avoid; age, sex, and race issues. That way, no lawsuits back on Mother.

It happened this way last time, it will happen this way this time, and the same for any/all of the next rounds. Industry standard.
 






Anonymous said:
Yes, all you can do is your job. Keep your focus but be prepared.
The layoff will be conducted, like before, after the 'consultant' gets done with their evaluation. It will not be a performance issue that gets most people cut. Rather, the consultant performs an evaluation to avoid; age, sex, and race issues. That way, no lawsuits back on Mother.

It happened this way last time, it will happen this way this time, and the same for any/all of the next rounds. Industry standard.
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Do you think this will effect Animal Health?
 






Anonymous said:
They already have the first round people picked out. There will be many more rounds. If you have been at Merck/SP for 10-15 years there is a 99% chance of going in one of the first rounds. If your under 40 you can't file a age discrimination lawsuit. They are retooling the whole company. Managers have never been at risk will soon become the main target at least in the USA. This layoff cycle will not end until mid 2013 in the USA. The other geographic regions will actually add people.
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Merck will NEVER target its managers in masse...maybe a few will get cherry picked here and there, but Merck is set up by managers for managers...that is all part of the corruption...

Managers will continue to enjoy lucrative corporate wellfare at Merck for many years to come!! (Especially the MGAMs)
 






Anonymous said:
Do you think this will effect Animal Health?
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No way. That is one of the growth areas for the company. No you're safe. Don't worry.





Dude, wake up! All divisions of the company will be affected. The only ones not in the target of the consultants will be the Executive Team and Senior level management.


Otherwise, everyone is fair game.
 






Anonymous said:
Merck will NEVER target its managers in masse...maybe a few will get cherry picked here and there, but Merck is set up by managers for managers...that is all part of the corruption...

Managers will continue to enjoy lucrative corporate wellfare at Merck for many years to come!! (Especially the MGAMs)
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Those days are ending quickly. Merck is in such a hole right now and their burn rate is way too high. They know the corporate culture needs to change. You will see a high number of managers get let go because the number of workers will be large.
 






The goal is described easily enough. The word comes down that expenses need to be cut by not less than X% and target headcount by not less than Y% . The biggest chunk of variable expenses is payroll and what they care most about is $$$. The headcount reduction is to make sure that "everyone feels the pain". It's all very sad for the management. They would like to be seen as father figures to their people. But they still think that their bonuses, and stock options and grants are both justified and affordable.
 






Suffice to say, anyone working here does so by choice. It may not be a happy choice, but nevertheless, it's your choice. Merck is a shitty company to work for, as are many others. We didn't used to be this way, but we didn't used to have cars and computers, either. It is what it is and nothing other than your choice to leave can change things.
 






Anonymous said:
Suffice to say, anyone working here does so by choice. It may not be a happy choice, but nevertheless, it's your choice. Merck is a shitty company to work for, as are many others. We didn't used to be this way, but we didn't used to have cars and computers, either. It is what it is and nothing other than your choice to leave can change things.
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With the economy where it is right now the choices are very limited. Merck would see 50% of the people leave if the economy opened up. Right now it's contracting again. The management does not want change because someone would have to make a decision. The moto is don't rock the boat. All managers have been worried just like the workers, maybe even more because thay have more at stake. The problem is that will be their downfall because as a manager you need to make changes especially during the hard times like we are having.
 






Anonymous said:
With the economy where it is right now the choices are very limited. Merck would see 50% of the people leave if the economy opened up. Right now it's contracting again. The management does not want change because someone would have to make a decision. The moto is don't rock the boat. All managers have been worried just like the workers, maybe even more because thay have more at stake. The problem is that will be their downfall because as a manager you need to make changes especially during the hard times like we are having.
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If pension ends a lot will take up sprinting.
 






What I don't understand is that when ever there is a new round of cuts everyone in the lab is let go and the managers/directors are kept or offered a transfer. Exactly who or what are these managers managing? Managing to keep their jobs? This company is so top heavy, it's a huge reverse pyramid. MRL will never discover another drug with only managers. It's the people in the labs that discover.
 






Supervisors of laboratory scientists at MRL used to be in the labs side by side with their people. Now they attend meetings to keep Directors and VPs from getting lonely and feeling out of touch. Once you get paid more to sit and sip coffee what's the point of being in the lab.
 






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