The New Reality of (what's left of) Merck Employees

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Let go back in 2010 after 14 years and went to work for one of the contract organizations. Last year driven out for good. Career wasted, no bridge (too young), no subsidized medical, ridiculous low pension at age 65 ($100k lump). Feast or famine at this company. Run away from this industry!
 




To post #8 the wackadoodle. No, 2017 and beyond look very good for the market; perhaps you should read the Wall Street Journal, Economist, etc. After healthcare both business and personal taxes will be adjusted. Everything is pointing in the right direction. Pessimists like to wallow and make others miserable. Do something productive. Many people have substantial $, investments, etc. stop reading the nonsense as there are a lot of people who "have."
 




To post #1: I started with another large pharma company in the late 70's. Merck was then held in the highest esteem, let me tell you. Everyone there was admired as they were at my company. Things were very different with true clinical data, relationships and no fear or a bi-annual reorganization firings, etc. I saw the entire story you have described with my company. Although I retired very well with a 35 year career, all I can now say is: I am glad I was in the industry when I was. I was paid well and enjoyed stock and stock options. My company was generous.. The end result is very few people around in both sales and corporate at age 60. The pressure to get rid of people is unbelievable and many contacted attorneys who fought well for them. Enjoy your life there is much more to it than working at a fortune 500 company.
 




Here's what I thought as I read this post. Of all of the senior managers we have, this is the one that left us. One of the very few who are worth having…and this is one of those who left. Merck is a dark hole. Thanks for the post, #1. We all know it, but very few of the heartless cowards in management ever step up to admit the evil truth that exists here.
 




anonymous said:
Here's what I thought as I read this post. Of all of the senior managers we have, this is the one that left us. One of the very few who are worth having…and this is one of those who left. Merck is a dark hole. Thanks for the post, #1. We all know it, but very few of the heartless cowards in management ever step up to admit the evil truth that exists here.
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This is corporate America. A few years ago the CEO of Time Warner was asked about the failure of their AOL purchase. The company way over paid for AOL at that time. The CEO commented - I don't know what happened but everyone on the board agreed with me that this merger would be a good deal for TW. Remember everyone of these executives are sheep. They will agree 100% with their boss. This is the only way to survive at Merck and other major companies. At least until they ultimately fail.
 




Man's inherit happiness requires a sense of purpose and meaning. The pharmaceutical rep and manager positions, at least at Merck, detract from that purpose. If you doubt this, just think about what you are doing over the course of your next full work week. What value do we provide? We are trying to look busy but the reality is, if we took the week off, no one would notice. The only solution, if we choose to stay on the payroll is to seek purpose outside of work. Seeking volunteer opportunities is not a bad way to compensate for what this job does to your soul. Just my opinion, I could be wrong.
 




anonymous said:
Man's inherit happiness requires a sense of purpose and meaning. The pharmaceutical rep and manager positions, at least at Merck, detract from that purpose. If you doubt this, just think about what you are doing over the course of your next full work week. What value do we provide? We are trying to look busy but the reality is, if we took the week off, no one would notice. The only solution, if we choose to stay on the payroll is to seek purpose outside of work. Seeking volunteer opportunities is not a bad way to compensate for what this job does to your soul. Just my opinion, I could be wrong.
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You are spot on. In PC sales you have haggard old reps and ctl's with 15, 20 and more years in. In PC they are selling scraps with Boresomra, Dullaira, Lostavax and Januvia which is getting hammered. They cut bonuses, took away S3's, capped salaries and there are no promotions. Then there is the special ass ignments where you are basically an intern (joke). These fools are living in fantasyland and the ride will end soon. These same fools will get annihilated in external interviews, this includes ctl's. A 40 to 50 year old Merck PC rep selling Januvia might get a 70k rep job and a ctl might get a 120k contract manager job. Problem with PC here is lifer employees gift around going through the motions trying to avoid cuts. Now go make a difference, send those field emails, fast sampling and feed the cows. Enjoy your 500$ Januvia bonus and enjoy your field visit coaching, "now point here rep, Manny Manny manny" . Flippen useless schlep reps, and ct hells too. The end is near.
 




anonymous said:
You are spot on. In PC sales you have haggard old reps and ctl's with 15, 20 and more years in. In PC they are selling scraps with Boresomra, Dullaira, Lostavax and Januvia which is getting hammered. They cut bonuses, took away S3's, capped salaries and there are no promotions. Then there is the special ass ignments where you are basically an intern (joke). These fools are living in fantasyland and the ride will end soon. These same fools will get annihilated in external interviews, this includes ctl's. A 40 to 50 year old Merck PC rep selling Januvia might get a 70k rep job and a ctl might get a 120k contract manager job. Problem with PC here is lifer employees gift around going through the motions trying to avoid cuts. Now go make a difference, send those field emails, fast sampling and feed the cows. Enjoy your 500$ Januvia bonus and enjoy your field visit coaching, "now point here rep, Manny Manny manny" . Flippen useless schlep reps, and ct hells too. The end is near.
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it will never end Cochise...(Although it absolutely should...) Merck has more money than God, they can continues to fleece the public and payors for the foreseeable future, and Senior Management is locked into Corporate Welfare for life at Merck...they need their useful idiots below them...I too thought the end was near, (and this was back in 1994) but it never ends...the BS just gets thicker...Don't ever forget: Life is like a Sh*t sandwich...The more bread you have, the less Sh*t you have to eat.
 




anonymous said:
it will never end Cochise...(Although it absolutely should...) Merck has more money than God, they can continues to fleece the public and payors for the foreseeable future, and Senior Management is locked into Corporate Welfare for life at Merck...they need their useful idiots below them...I too thought the end was near, (and this was back in 1994) but it never ends...the BS just gets thicker...Don't ever forget: Life is like a Sh*t sandwich...The more bread you have, the less Sh*t you have to eat.
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On the contrary, Merck has had little luck in acquiring new compounds. Keytruda was apparently a good purchase, but that's the only good move this company has made in 20 years. All the money in the world is worthless if there's nothing worthwhile to spend it on. God knows we couldn't actually produce anything from R&D.
 




anonymous said:
On the contrary, Merck has had little luck in acquiring new compounds. Keytruda was apparently a good purchase, but that's the only good move this company has made in 20 years. All the money in the world is worthless if there's nothing worthwhile to spend it on. God knows we couldn't actually produce anything from R&D.
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And Keytruda was an accidental purchase, a holdover from Organon, almost killed three times. If you saw the pipeline slides at the time of purchase, PD-1 was nowhere on the list.
 




anonymous said:
And Keytruda was an accidental purchase, a holdover from Organon, almost killed three times. If you saw the pipeline slides at the time of purchase, PD-1 was nowhere on the list.
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Thus, Merck has had one success in the last 20 years, Januvia. And it's run is almost over. Checkmate, sales force. Oncology will be the last man standing.
 




The original post may be the most true post in the history of CafePharma. He really did nail it, as sorry as I am to acknowledge that. Our management should be in jail, not paying themselves millions of dollars to destroy families and careers.
 




anonymous said:
Post #10 is ridiculous. If there is a total currency collapse that will be what it is: a total currency collapse. We will all be in the same sinking boat.
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No shit sherlock... read #8 and then take a moment to reflect that #10 was a sarcastic response to #8

once in a while, when you read people pissing and moaning about how unfair life is and why the future is filled with nothing but dark storm clouds... try stepping back, gather your balance... its never as bad as they say... or as good as we hope

keep focused on long term goals, avoid distractions, never give up... and success shall be ours
 




anonymous said:
Now is the time to act. When I order lunch always get 15% freeze dried food that I bury in the yard at my house. When the economy collapses and the Chinese army invades, I can live off the buried freeze dried food for 2 years. I will take my Merck 401(k) as hard cash - by converting into dimes and nickels - I pick out the real silver coins then return the more recent alloys. Right now I have sufficient coins to barter for food with real silver. I'm trying to hoard samples as well, but have to cycle them based on expiration date - these go into the small bunker that I dug under the garage. Friends our roles in the sales force wont last forever. Use your time to prepare.
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Holy shit Sherlock. You're one weird fuck
 




anonymous said:
Oh my. You're right about everything, especially that part about Kenny Boy not liking what you have to say. He should be in jail, not cashing in on $25million per year. There's a special place in hell for him, Adam, and the rest of those cretins.

Thank you.
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Cuts are a coming, get your affairs in order. Those in the know are all bailing out quickly.
 




What you are all missing is the few people behind the debacle starting with vioxx. There right from the start with marketing studies disguised as science -- then the lies--now president and still causing loss for company while growing own wealth-- what is wrong with BOD. Take ken and Adam out now!
 








anonymous said:
Cuts are a coming, get your affairs in order. Those in the know are all bailing out quickly.
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True, I'm seeing VP' s and DCO's leaving and also reps at the bottom of the chain. I'm my area the one thing they all have in common is they are connected. Someone is giving them a forewarning ahead of the storm. No the sky is not falling but something is for sure going on. We'll see.
 




I tell you there is no more time. Bury your nuts now that will save you in the winter. Hurry they are coming. If they catch you - life is over. Hurry now its almost too late.
 




anonymous said:
Reading the posts about Merck's retirement musings led me to write this. It's time to acknowledge the reality…and Ken Frazieris not going to like what I have to say.

Over the last 12-13 years, Merck has actively minimized it's long-term costs by directly laying off tens of thousands of employees and also "encouraging" the departure of tens of thousands more. At the start of this mess, those in "protected groups" (an actual legal term) technically included employees over 40, but the white males had very little chance of successful age discrimination claims unless they were over 50 when they were pressured out. Hence, Merck was hesitant to target for removal those employees over fifty, in general, as those law suits would have made getting rid of those employees very expensive. Thus, we now have a much older sales force (average age is 51), with a smattering of contract reps and some very young reps that make very little and have virtually no impact on long-term costs (no pension for you!). So, those that were older back then are now retiring employees who are reaching that coveted goal, but it is indeed a shrinking group.

As a former senior manager, I can assure you that this is all true and accurate. Merck's demise began with the fall of Vioxx and was accelerated with the greatest series of R&D failures in pharmaceutical history. In short, Merck is where it is by its own accord. It's sad that more than half of the company's employees have been separated since then, with only a fraction having been replaced at a much smaller cost to the company, all because this company was so horribly managed.

As others have indicated, it is truly tragic that Merck's "leadership" has profited mightily since this all began.The billions of dollars (literally) paid to those executives who conceived and implemented the plan to sever the financial ---and often mental---health of our own fellow employees could have been used to soften the blow to those former employees and their families considerably. Instead, Merck's "leaders" have quietly enriched themselves while destroying countless lives with reckless abandon. It is truly shameful.

The anonymous nature of this forum affords me the opportunity to share this with you. Most of us with legal exposure to sharing information like this simply take their cash and drift away. I simply can't fail to acknowledge that thousands of very good people were made to look guilty as they were dismissed or, more often, pressured to quit by very underhanded means. It is a disgraceful organization.
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