Still working at Merck?

[Anonymous]

Is there anyone left doing more than the bare minimum? I only set up appointments and use what RFM money is have when my CTL is working with me. Otherwise I'm just going through the motions.

Why? I'm so demotivated with all the layoffs, launch delays and bad news that I can't stand it anymore. Am I the only one who feels this way?

 

[Anonymous]

Is there anyone left doing more than the bare minimum? I only set up appointments and use what RFM money is have when my CTL is working with me. Otherwise I'm just going through the motions.

Why? I'm so demotivated with all the layoffs, launch delays and bad news that I can't stand it anymore. Am I the only one who feels this way?

Time for you to put on your big boy pants, splash some cold water on your face, take a hard look in the mirror and be a MAN!

Now is NOT the time to throw in the towel!! It's only Round 1 and you've got a few more rounds to fight, Rocky!

Clubber Lang and the Big Russian are coming to knock your block off!!! Let's get REAL in the field!!!

 

[Anonymous]

How do you guys still play the pharma rep game? With all the digital involvement in your job I don't see how you do it. Faking calls is easy to detect and grounds for immediate termination. Is Merck letting you get away with it until they choose to have you gone?

 

[Anonymous]

Is there anyone left doing more than the bare minimum? I only set up appointments and use what RFM money is have when my CTL is working with me. Otherwise I'm just going through the motions.

Why? I'm so demotivated with all the layoffs, launch delays and bad news that I can't stand it anymore. Am I the only one who feels this way?

I'm not going to wail on you because I understand how you feel and why you feel this way. But I will offer an alternative.

Lets state the obvious:

Merck has become a pretty screwed up place to work over the past 10 years, and that has accelerated with the stupendously shitty year we have had as far as launches not happening, and Ken's strategy of cutting to make earnings and the fact that our leadership just seems to be so freaking out of touch (that is the most disappointing thing because if we felt like we had leaders who had a clue I don't think we would feel so hopeless). I think the leadership being so wildly out of touch is the most disappointing factor. Leaders create the culture, they set the tone. And the tone our leaders have set is "don't question, don't say anything that can be remotely perceived as anything other than yessir everything is great, we don't want to hear from you. I think its safe to say that there is an equal amount of trust between leadership and everyone else. We all know if you want to get promoted, keep your mouth shut and your nose buried up some other brown noses ass. Forget dissent.

All that being stated, and I know this is going to be a hard sell to many of you, there are a lot of good people out here just trying to make plan, do well and have a reasonably happy life. If you think about it, you probably know more people who are decent than those who are not. So if you think about it that way, and just try to do the best you can with what you have and stay below the radar and not get too tangled up in the bullshit, its really not too much worse than any other job in a contracting industry.

if you are that unhappy, you can choose to leave and work somewhere else. If you think you can't maybe you need to look at why you feel so trapped. Are you living way above your means? Thats a choice you may want to revisit, but you do have a choice. If you are 5 years out from retirement, you may just have to suck it up and roll the dice and hope for the best. You don't have to live an empty life, you do have options.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm not going to wail on you because I understand how you feel and why you feel this way. But I will offer an alternative.

Lets state the obvious:

Merck has become a pretty screwed up place to work over the past 10 years, and that has accelerated with the stupendously shitty year we have had as far as launches not happening, and Ken's strategy of cutting to make earnings and the fact that our leadership just seems to be so freaking out of touch (that is the most disappointing thing because if we felt like we had leaders who had a clue I don't think we would feel so hopeless). I think the leadership being so wildly out of touch is the most disappointing factor. Leaders create the culture, they set the tone. And the tone our leaders have set is "don't question, don't say anything that can be remotely perceived as anything other than yessir everything is great, we don't want to hear from you. I think its safe to say that there is an equal amount of trust between leadership and everyone else. We all know if you want to get promoted, keep your mouth shut and your nose buried up some other brown noses ass. Forget dissent.

All that being stated, and I know this is going to be a hard sell to many of you, there are a lot of good people out here just trying to make plan, do well and have a reasonably happy life. If you think about it, you probably know more people who are decent than those who are not. So if you think about it that way, and just try to do the best you can with what you have and stay below the radar and not get too tangled up in the bullshit, its really not too much worse than any other job in a contracting industry.

if you are that unhappy, you can choose to leave and work somewhere else. If you think you can't maybe you need to look at why you feel so trapped. Are you living way above your means? Thats a choice you may want to revisit, but you do have a choice. If you are 5 years out from retirement, you may just have to suck it up and roll the dice and hope for the best. You don't have to live an empty life, you do have options.

Some good advice. I followed the same reasoning about 15 years ago and left the industry. I stayed in sales however where I had a much lower base (guaranteed 30k) but much greater incentive income which as George Merck kind of said, have never failed to appear It sounds like pharma has only gotten worse so I'm glad I'm out. I refused to stay in a job where my impact was limited at best with little control over how I could do it. Then to be at the mercy of some CTL/DCO who might pick me to come after when all I was doing was what every other rep was doing made absolutely no sense to me. I guess that goes with the job when it contains so much BS and fakery. Since 1999 I've had several managers but have never seen any of them more than twice a year, once being an annual review and if twice, it was a midyear review. Never, never, did they call on a customer with me. Pharma sales was a joke to me and I guess some things haven't changed or only gotten worse.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm not going to wail on you because I understand how you feel and why you feel this way. But I will offer an alternative.

Lets state the obvious:

Merck has become a pretty screwed up place to work over the past 10 years, and that has accelerated with the stupendously shitty year we have had as far as launches not happening, and Ken's strategy of cutting to make earnings and the fact that our leadership just seems to be so freaking out of touch (that is the most disappointing thing because if we felt like we had leaders who had a clue I don't think we would feel so hopeless). I think the leadership being so wildly out of touch is the most disappointing factor. Leaders create the culture, they set the tone. And the tone our leaders have set is "don't question, don't say anything that can be remotely perceived as anything other than yessir everything is great, we don't want to hear from you. I think its safe to say that there is an equal amount of trust between leadership and everyone else. We all know if you want to get promoted, keep your mouth shut and your nose buried up some other brown noses ass. Forget dissent.


One note about "leadership" and this is something I have noticed A LOT lately. So leaders create the culture, and they have to take responsibility for that, but what I've noticed more is this huge push from VPCO to DCO to CTL to "take responsibility for culture" which OK, I get that but I can't do that in a vacuum. Its like the leadership is asking everyone down line to be good leaders while they continue with the same buffoonery as always. I would love to change the culture and help people feel confident in Merck again, and to a very small extent, I may be able to impact that (again small extent) but while I do that, are our leaders going to continue to behave in the same "confidence inspiring ways" (sarcasm) they always have with no change? Are we going to have Adam and his posse come up with sales goals that scream "I DONT' HAVE A F'ING CLUE" or maybe put 5 new drugs up for FDA approval and maybe get ONE APPROVED?? and you want little ol' me to improve the culture all alone out here? Throw me a bone you un-inspiring team of baboons……..

 

[Anonymous]

....One note about "leadership" and this is something I have noticed A LOT lately. So leaders create the culture, and they have to take responsibility for that, but what I've noticed more is this huge push from VPCO to DCO to CTL to "take responsibility for culture" which OK, I get that but I can't do that in a vacuum. Its like the leadership is asking everyone down line to be good leaders while they continue with the same buffoonery as always. I would love to change the culture and help people feel confident in Merck again, and to a very small extent, I may be able to impact that (again small extent) but while I do that, are our leaders going to continue to behave in the same "confidence inspiring ways" (sarcasm) they always have with no change? Are we going to have Adam and his posse come up with sales goals that scream "I DONT' HAVE A F'ING CLUE" or maybe put 5 new drugs up for FDA approval and maybe get ONE APPROVED?? and you want little ol' me to improve the culture all alone out here? Throw me a bone you un-inspiring team of baboons……..

Wow, such a novel approach. Let us all become leaders at Merck. We are all charged with being leaders of our domain, no matter what or where it happens to be. Talk about tired old bullshit. Would you like to know just how long I've been hearing and having to listen to this same old same old kind of management? We had this same shit from upper management in the 90's. Buffoonery to say the least from Merck "leaders" who really don't have a f'ing clue. Only now we have fewer products and no leading products in any class. Without leaders in Merck it goes to reason we'll have no leaders when it comes to products.

 

[Anonymous]

Wow, such a novel approach. Let us all become leaders at Merck. We are all charged with being leaders of our domain, no matter what or where it happens to be. Talk about tired old bullshit. Would you like to know just how long I've been hearing and having to listen to this same old same old kind of management? We had this same shit from upper management in the 90's. Buffoonery to say the least from Merck "leaders" who really don't have a f'ing clue. Only now we have fewer products and no leading products in any class. Without leaders in Merck it goes to reason we'll have no leaders when it comes to products.

What leadership is saying indirectly is we know its broken, we can't fix it so you fix it! But as well all know, its hard to fix something when all your tools have been taken away, your hands are tied, and you have some nitwit CTL riding around with you like a probation officer. The problem with Merck is not that they aren't listening to the field today (which they aren't), the problem is they didn't listen to us a decade ago either when a few smart decisions might have placed us on a more positive trajectory

 

[Anonymous]

What leadership is saying indirectly is we know its broken, we can't fix it so you fix it! But as well all know, its hard to fix something when all your tools have been taken away, your hands are tied, and you have some nitwit CTL riding around with you like a probation officer. The problem with Merck is not that they aren't listening to the field today (which they aren't), the problem is they didn't listen to us a decade ago either when a few smart decisions might have placed us on a more positive trajectory

Good posting and your logic is right...The train started to derail a long time ago, and Merck leaders chose to stick their heads in the sand and ignore the obvious...

The constant CTL field visits drove me out of the industry in my 50s...exactly as Merck intended them to do...I tried to hold on as long as I could, but decided my sanity was worth more than the 6-figure income. My customers used to say to me after I came back to the office post field visit, "What? He is YOUR boss?" They all assumed I was the boss cuz my CTL was a kid, and acted like an inexperience buffoon and brat...

But that is the way Merck wants it...A company that benefits the managers forever, and provides them with almost guarenteed employment for life...

So be it...I am happy to be out of the industry, and am enjoying the continues implosion, even though I still have a bit of Merck stock.

Hey...FU MERCK!! You suck...but you didn't beat me...

 

[Anonymous]

I feel your pain! I made it threw 2 lay offs and then left on my own! Lucky for me I have a great degree that allows for more choices for careers! I did enjoy my tenure at Merck but some of the managers/directors were awful! A few were great though! You take the good with the bad. Unfortunately where I was there was too much nepotism and I moved on. Good luck to you all!!

 

[Anonymous]

How do you guys still play the pharma rep game? With all the digital involvement in your job I don't see how you do it. Faking calls is easy to detect and grounds for immediate termination. Is Merck letting you get away with it until they choose to have you gone?

So is not faking calls. That's the system. They fire you for not recording enough calls or they fire you for recording calls by faking them. You must understand that nearly every recorded call is fake. Access is next to nothing.

 

[Anonymous]

So is not faking calls. That's the system. They fire you for not recording enough calls or they fire you for recording calls by faking them. You must understand that nearly every recorded call is fake. Access is next to nothing.

Exactly

 

[Anonymous]

Working? Not really. Employed? Yes.