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Up Coming Merck Layoffs to be MASSIVE !!!!!!!









Are you new to the game? Laid-off is code for fired, and yes, I have been "laid-off". You are viewed by potential hiring managers as: dead wood, lazy, troublesome, difficult and incompetent. You may not be, but that is the reality. As my union-job for life buddy advised me, If you had any value, they would have kept you. You were seen as non-essential overhead. Ouch that hurt, but true.

Wow are you off!

Plenty of top notch, smart, well educated, high producers are thrown overboard in corporate America each and every day.... Most of these folks are quality employees...but they happen to hit the cursed golden oldie or geezer age range (a ripened, 55-60 or so).

Now considered too tarnished and worn, they become cut eligible.

Ouch, is an understatement for this trend....

Sad and very tragic are more accurate and descriptive of this real life situation........
 




Wow are you off!

Plenty of top notch, smart, well educated, high producers are thrown overboard in corporate America each and every day.... Most of these folks are quality employees...but they happen to hit the cursed golden oldie or geezer age range (a ripened, 55-60 or so).

Now considered too tarnished and worn, they become cut eligible.

Ouch, is an understatement for this trend....

Sad and very tragic are more accurate and descriptive of this real life situation........

Laid-off, fired, downsized....nothing more than semantics. One can even say they quit, resigned or chose to seek other opportunities. It doesn't matter, if you are a "ripened, 55-60" you are stuck in the same lifeboat as anybody else in this demographic. If you have real needed skills or can demonstrate examples of significant professional impact in your previous position then you MIGHT be able to find an equivalent job. The odds are against you, unfortunately.
 








yup yup yup===whoop shoop whoop

You all are getting a taste of what I went through 2 years ago. Papa Merck predicted this was coming and in my glorious exit package I was told I had the best of a bad situation. Got early retirement at 49 yrs old, over a year of severance and access to retirement benefits for the rest of my life ( as long as Bobama care does not screw this up).

Life out here sucks and if you think you can grab a brass ring and find another company to replace this then you are one of the lucky ones.

I was a GREAT REP and on the top of my game and some piece of shit bean counters Merck hired got rid of me and Many, Many other of my SR EXEC Rep counterparts.

Have fun worrying about this. I have a mental list of many of you both Merck and Schering peeps I hope have to go through this.

Poetic Justice I say. Have fun and hope you all saved well. There is nothing out here for any of us.
 




Are you new to the game? Laid-off is code for fired, and yes, I have been "laid-off". You are viewed by potential hiring managers as: dead wood, lazy, troublesome, difficult and incompetent. You may not be, but that is the reality. As my union-job for life buddy advised me, If you had any value, they would have kept you. You were seen as non-essential overhead. Ouch that hurt, but true.

And the sheep who doubt you and think they are too valuable and it can't happen to them, will find out for themselves after they have been "laid off".

I recall years ago during the pre-BRGOS town hall meetings as the ice queen Kathleeen Metters followed the script, appeared to be holding back a crocodile tear or two and tried hard to pretend to care about the tens of thousands of employees she was about to axe "to ensure the long term survival of the company", she was VERY careful to always use the euphemism "separated employee". She never once used the term "laid off". Guess what? Once you were "separated", NONE of the paperwork EVER used the term "separated employee". Every Fidelity statement, every benefits document, every severance-related document listed employee status as TERMINATED. Not laid off, not "downsized", TERMINATED employee. Talk about twisting the knife really good.

Unless you had a lofty title of associate director or above and had golden parachute when you were "laid off", most hiring mangers had the attitude just as the poster above indicated. Headhunters who constantly cold called you while you were at your post aboard the mother ship were not interested at all once you became "separated" from the mother ship.

While nothing is 100%, you should prepare for this type of treatment because it is the rule rather than the exception. Be prepared to hear BS like:

What are your salary expectations? Translation: We will pay you 45% of what you make now. Is that o.k? Not that it matters. Wink, wink.

You are too "experienced" for the position. Translation: You are over 50 and if we hire you our health insurance premiums will skyrocket.

If we hire you, you will leave when the economy turns around. No translation but that golden oldie is still being used even today.

There are a bunch more and you will become very familiar with all of them after you become "laid off" or "separated".
 




yup yup yup===whoop shoop whoop

You all are getting a taste of what I went through 2 years ago. Papa Merck predicted this was coming and in my glorious exit package I was told I had the best of a bad situation. Got early retirement at 49 yrs old, over a year of severance and access to retirement benefits for the rest of my life ( as long as Bobama care does not screw this up).

Life out here sucks and if you think you can grab a brass ring and find another company to replace this then you are one of the lucky ones.

I was a GREAT REP and on the top of my game and some piece of shit bean counters Merck hired got rid of me and Many, Many other of my SR EXEC Rep counterparts.

Have fun worrying about this. I have a mental list of many of you both Merck and Schering peeps I hope have to go through this.

Poetic Justice I say. Have fun and hope you all saved well. There is nothing out here for any of us.

No, unfortunately there is not...your choices after pharma, are those goofy, commission only jobs that take people with GED degrees, buy a Subway or some other franchise if you have about 250K liquid, and that you can afford to lose, or sell insurance and meet your demise by dying of boredom and a similar lack of dignity to pharma...

many will find out that pharma exists in a parallel universe...no one out there recognizes the "skill set" as a a skill set...oh...I forgot...you could start a catering company too...
 




Rather than eliminating a key resource (people), perhaps an across-the-board payroll reduction ought to be considered. Although payroll is not the only cost of retaining employees, it is a primary expense. After all, a company's principle reason for being in business ought to be satisfying customers' needs (and that usually occurs by applying resources). In round numbers, and to focus more on the principle than the details (the offsetting effect of severance packages, etc.), the (two extreme) options are, approximately:
A. Require a 100% sacrifice of 20% of the workforce (via layoffs)
B. Require a 20% sacrifice of 100% of the workforce (via payroll reductions)

No thanks, I will keep my pay. The union cost you your job. Meanwhile life is great in durham.I heard that Popeyes,bojangles KFC have many new job openings.Merck hired most of them.
 












No, unfortunately there is not...your choices after pharma, are those goofy, commission only jobs that take people with GED degrees, buy a Subway or some other franchise if you have about 250K liquid, and that you can afford to lose, or sell insurance and meet your demise by dying of boredom and a similar lack of dignity to pharma...

many will find out that pharma exists in a parallel universe...no one out there recognizes the "skill set" as a a skill set...oh...I forgot...you could start a catering company too...

Avon and MaryKay offers flex time hours, Good for the girls and guys who like perfumes and lipstick. Pink wheels for the high producers. As for me, I'm turning back the clock. Thinking about being a hippie, starting life all over again....
 




Avon and MaryKay offers flex time hours, Good for the girls and guys who like perfumes and lipstick. Pink wheels for the high producers. As for me, I'm turning back the clock. Thinking about being a hippie, starting life all over again....

Bravo...you are I are in the same boat...I just read an article about people that intentionally choose poverty, since most of us end up that way anyway...instead of fighting it you just sort of go with it...there were people in the article that live on 5-10 k a year...(and are happy)

I am presently just spending down my assets, (career pharma guy that has found new employment absolutely impossible) so that at least I will qualify for some healthcare...

welcome to the new Normal in America...thanks Obama...