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

[anonymous]

He makes me feel bad and nervous. Remove his picture from the company brochures. Better yet burn the pictures!

I demand my own safe space in the cafeteria, free snowcones, crayons and coloring books, pansies on my desk and a silencer on my phone. I am so stressed!

 

[anonymous]

I demand my own safe space in the cafeteria, free snowcones, crayons and coloring books, pansies on my desk and a silencer on my phone. I am so stressed!

This isn't about safe spaces. This is about managers ruining the lives of tens of thousands of families…and getting paid hundreds of millions of dollars to do it.

 

[anonymous]

Glad I'm not part of the shithole culture at Merck anymore. Bottom line: douchebags protecting douchebags.

 

[anonymous]

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.

 

[anonymous]

This isn't about safe spaces. This is about managers ruining the lives of tens of thousands of families…and getting paid hundreds of millions of dollars to do it.

You are so full of shit that you make me chuckle. I just hope you have been fired and eating spoiled beans. Turds like you stink up everyone's habitation.

 

[anonymous]

You are so full of shit that you make me chuckle. I just hope you have been fired and eating spoiled beans. Turds like you stink up everyone's habitation.

This is the kind of moron that Merck LOVES----dumb as a brick and blind as a bat.

 

[anonymous]

That Kenny---what an actor! First, he acted like a CEO, having presided over the biggest train wreck in Big Pharma history. Now, he's acting like a racist….but no one believes he's acting. Let's face it, Kenny was in Obama's corner and let's face it, race was the reason why.

 

[anonymous]

Get your affairs in order. You'll see.

NO pc rep fits in the vision 2020 plan and 2018 is nearing. There will be scraps if you wait until the end. Shuffling will continue for two more weeks in this chess game.

Calls are a comin.

 

[anonymous]

Get your affairs in order. You'll see.

NO pc rep fits in the vision 2020 plan and 2018 is nearing. There will be scraps if you wait until the end. Shuffling will continue for two more weeks in this chess game.

Calls are a comin.

Vaccine Group is ripe for reorganization. We are shifting to a heavier Pediatric Bag, due to Zostavax competition...We just are looking at revenue opportunities before final decision passed to consultants.

 

[anonymous]

I must agree with the original post. I was pushed out after the age of 60, made it longer tha the norm.

 

[anonymous]

Merck did not buy Keytruda directly. When they bought Organon this was a product sitting on the shelf that had never been launched. Merck later found out what a treasure they had.

 

[anonymous]

I must agree with the original post. I was pushed out after the age of 60, made it longer than the norm.

 

[anonymous]

Everyone who leaves Merck or any other large pharma company always brags about this great new job, no pressure, more perks, better salary, etc. It does not exist. You might get a title, etc. at a smaller company. Bio tech companies are quite particular: iv nurse, etc. M.B.A., chem major, etc. So do not believe what you read or hear. They all SAY it is greener over the fence; SAY.

Say u say? Sounds like you are jealous and actually believe salaries cited on Glassdoor.

Fact is, rarely do Merck reps get hired at biotechs due to lack of skill sets.

IF you are the rare chosen one you will soon realise that even as a bio sales rep you will earn more than Merck sales Director. Now that's funny.

 

[anonymous]

Vaccine Group is ripe for reorganization. We are shifting to a heavier Pediatric Bag, due to Zostavax competition...We just are looking at revenue opportunities before final decision passed to consultants.

Vaccine groups decision has already been made and packages offered to upper management. Should be announced between now and Thanksgiving. Good luck to all.

 

[anonymous]

Vaccine groups decision has already been made and packages offered to upper management. Should be announced between now and Thanksgiving. Good luck to all.

PC sales/management also in the cue around 10-9. Those in the know had this info in June and went to safer divisions (what few there are) or outright left the company. This is similar to a looming hurricane analogy, the smart ones move along, the others shelter in place. Some survive but others lose everything and will need to rebuild. Will you be able to find a job that pays the same?

 

[anonymous]

Not a pharma guy, but this board is unquestionably the best board on CafePharma, this thread in particular.

I worked for IBM for many years, and from what I'm reading here, even though it's about a completely different industry than IT, it's eerily similar to the board we had while I was at IBM.

Same shit - different industry. Although I cant do anything for anyone at Merck, I can offer you my most sincere empathy and words of encouragement. You may not think so now, but eventually you will land on your feet. (Most IBMer's that were crushed by IBM did just that) The difficult part is that you may have to endure some harsh economic/financial conditions in the short run. Long term? Not so much.

Hang in there and remain upbeat and strong. You're better than Merck and will always be so. God Bless and best of luck to all.

I'm your brother in mind and spirit, a very proud Ex-Beemer

 

[anonymous]

Not a pharma guy, but this board is unquestionably the best board on CafePharma, this thread in particular.

I worked for IBM for many years, and from what I'm reading here, even though it's about a completely different industry than IT, it's eerily similar to the board we had while I was at IBM.

Same shit - different industry. Although I cant do anything for anyone at Merck, I can offer you my most sincere empathy and words of encouragement. You may not think so now, but eventually you will land on your feet. (Most IBMer's that were crushed by IBM did just that) The difficult part is that you may have to endure some harsh economic/financial conditions in the short run. Long term? Not so much.

Hang in there and remain upbeat and strong. You're better than Merck and will always be so. God Bless and best of luck to all.

I'm your brother in mind and spirit, a very proud Ex-Beemer

Nice words but I disagree, you and your IBM amigos went through hell but were able to land on your feet again. That is because the IT sector continued to explode. To the contrary, you are giving our delislinger sales reps false hope, our industry in consolidating and Merck reps will not land on their feet, rather, their ass.
Speaking of IBM, Merck is such a dinosaur they still use IBM stinkpad laptops for our field rep minions.

 

[anonymous]

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.

 

[anonymous]

PC sales/management also in the cue around 10-9. Those in the know had this info in June and went to safer divisions (what few there are) or outright left the company. This is similar to a looming hurricane analogy, the smart ones move along, the others shelter in place. Some survive but others lose everything and will need to rebuild. Will you be able to find a job that pays the same?

OK, sounds credible. You saying cuts are happening next week? I will monitor and check your prediction next week oh wise one. I know a guy who left in August and he confirmed he was also told by a VP to get out before mid October.

 

[anonymous]

OK, sounds credible. You saying cuts are happening next week? I will monitor and check your prediction next week oh wise one. I know a guy who left in August and he confirmed he was also told by a VP to get out before mid October.

The downsizing is going to be announced next. Friday