stay away from EM&U - Engineering Specialist Merck Employee Review

2.0
Jul 9, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

nothing special, they have a 4% 401k match and a contribution to a pension

Cons

CEO (Ken Frasier) is a lawyer and the company is run that way. Engineering, Maintenance, and Utilities department is a complete disaster, they cannot retain anyone, and people who try to change jobs internally are blocked most often to the point of resignation.

Explore other reviews about Merck

5.0
Jul 12, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Work Life Balance, Benefits, Remote Work

Cons

Easy to stagnate if not being proactive about building skills and networking

4.0
Jun 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great benefits like medical/dentist/vision, pension, stock option, 401k match. Co workers are excellent, pretty good on site symposiums, lot of diversity clubs/activities. Innovation is extremely welcomed. Diversity in research portfolio. AI/ML is heavily invested to make databases more efficient.

Cons

Micro managing, especially within the biologics department, potentially others. Promotions are limited, and pay bump is poor. Company invests too much in buying companies rather than keeping talent - lay offs let go of great talented people. Merck is afraid of investing into exploratory biology and doesn’t take risk - they even admit they would rather see other companies clinical data or R&D data rather than taking a risk. Although it’s slow going in building new software, current databases are slow and needs much improvement. Extremely poor work/life balance.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All