Trailblazer Pacesetter LATE BLOOMER
Company Narrative
Merck, a pharmaceutical company, has been ranked as a LATE BLOOMER on the Women’s Power and Influence Index.
Some of Merck’s achievements include an extensive harassment policy and a clear, defined process to handle allegations and reports. In addition, Merck also has an equitable pay policy, even if information on its pay parity and annual compensation review process could not be found.
As of 2021, nearly 50% of Merck’s workforce are women and women hold 43.52% of Merck’s leadership positions.
Merck lacked sufficient data in several key Index criteria including paid parental leave, subsidized child care, and women-specific healthcare benefits.
Workforce Profile
Equitable Pay
✓ Does the company demonstrate a clear and transparent commitment to equal pay?
“In July 2018, we became a signatory to Paradigm for Parity®, a coalition of business leaders dedicated to addressing the corporate leadership gender gap. The goal of the coalition is to achieve full gender parity by 2030, with a near-term goal of women holding at least 30 percent of senior roles.”
Ref: pg 5, Merck Diversity & Inclusion Overview
✘ Does the company perform an annual analysis of gender pay equity and pay disparities?
Information regarding this criterion was unavailable or incomplete.
✘ Do female employees earn at least 95% of what their male counterparts earn?
Information regarding this criterion was unavailable or incomplete.
Career Growth
✓ Does the company demonstrate a commitment to actively attracting, retaining, and/or promoting women within the organization?
“We help women realise their full professional potential by ensuring employees feel a sense of belonging, positively engage with and encourage one another, and are empowered to work toward an environment of gender equality.
- We’ve created a community where opportunities to build a network internally and externally are facilitated through cross-divisional mentoring and sponsorship relationships.
- We raise awareness of career tools and development opportunities via webinars and workshops.”
Ref: pg 3, Merck Employee Resource Groups
✓ Does the company provide professional development programs designed specifically for female employees?
“We help women realise their full professional potential by ensuring employees feel a sense of belonging, positively engage with and encourage one another, and are empowered to work toward an environment of gender equality.
- We’ve created a community where opportunities to build a network internally and externally are facilitated through cross-divisional mentoring and sponsorship relationships.
- We raise awareness of career tools and development opportunities via webinars and workshops.”
Ref: pg 3, Merck Employee Resource Groups
✓ Does the company provide professional development programs designed specifically for diverse employees?
“We are committed to promoting inclusion and providing a forum where our Hispanic employees can enhance their personal and professional development as well as offer a rich palette of cultural and social activities.
- We host “Cafecitos,” courageous conversations about race and a Hispanic learning series to educate others on the healthcare gap in the Hispano-Latino population.
- We provide opportunities to attend community and leadership development events.”
Ref: pg 3, Merck Employee Resource Groups
✓ Does the company offer a formal mentoring program to support the career advancement of all female employees?
“We help women realise their full professional potential by ensuring employees feel a sense of belonging, positively engage with and encourage one another, and are empowered to work toward an environment of gender equality.
- We’ve created a community where opportunities to build a network internally and externally are facilitated through cross-divisional mentoring and sponsorship relationships.
- We raise awareness of career tools and development opportunities via webinars and workshops.”
Ref: pg 3, Merck Employee Resource Groups
✓ Does the company offer a formal mentoring program to support the career advancement of diverse employees?
“We strive to integrate the next generation of talent by exploring cultural and generational insights, promoting diverse talent and inclusion, and serving as a resource for employees of all ages to connect.
- We’re one of the newer and fastest-growing EBRGs, offering a first-in-class Reverse Mentoring Programme where employees of younger generations mentor leaders of our company.
- We offer a career development series, a collection of podcasts and webinars focused on career development, storytelling, and personal branding.”
Ref: pg 3, Merck Employee Resource Groups
✘ Does the company have policies and programs in place to actively recruit female candidates?
Information regarding this criterion was unavailable or incomplete.
✓ Does the company have policies and programs in place to actively recruit diverse candidates?
“Our strategy of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) focuses on moments that matter most to our current and future colleagues: hiring, developing, recognizing, and rewarding talent at every level. These moments embed DEI throughout the fabric of how we work and how we invent for life.
We’re so incredibly proud of our diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce where our people feel comfortable bringing their unique perspectives to work. When our employees know how crucial they are to our purpose to help save and improve lives, not only will they thrive, but our company will, too.”
Ref: pg 3, Merck 2022 DEI Review
Work-Life Balance
✓ Does the company demonstrate a commitment to providing support and/or time off for women with children?
“We provide employees with 12 holidays, four year-end shutdown days and a set number of paid vacation days to use throughout the year based on years of service or on work experience for new hires. We also provide our employees with a variety of paid time off options including:
• Paid parental time off (PPTO) – up to 12 weeks”
Ref: pg 2, Merck Compensation & Benefits
✓ Does the company provide child care support for employees?
“We provide employees with 12 holidays, four year-end shutdown days and a set number of paid vacation days to use throughout the year based on years of service or on work experience for new hires. We also provide our employees with a variety of paid time off options including:
• Paid parental time off (PPTO) – up to 12 weeks”
Ref: pg 2, Merck Compensation & Benefits
✘ Does the company offer subsidized child care?
Information regarding this criterion was unavailable or incomplete.
✘ Does the company offer paid maternity leave for birthing parents?
Information regarding this criterion was unavailable or incomplete.
✘ Does the company provide paid parental leave that extends beyond birthing parents to include surrogacy, adoption, and paternity leave?
Information regarding this criterion was unavailable or incomplete.
✓ Does the company demonstrate a commitment to supporting the health benefits of its female employees?
“Our health and insurance programs ensure quality, competitive value, protection from significant financial hardship, and access to tools and resources to support employees and their family members in all life stages. We offer health, life, disability, and business travel insurance that help protect our employees from the financial impact of unforeseen circumstances.”
Ref: pg 2, Merck Compensation & Benefits
✘ Does the company offer women-specific health benefits for female employees?
Information regarding this criterion was unavailable or incomplete.
Workplace Standards
✓ Does the company have a policy listing prohibited behaviors, such as harassment and retaliation?
“Within our own operations, we work to meet our responsibility to respect human rights by: Non-Discrimination: Refusing to tolerate discrimination or harassment based on race, color, gender,age, religion, origin, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by law.”
Ref: pg 2, Merck Human Rights Policy
✘ Does the company mandate all employees to undergo harassment and discrimination training?
Information regarding this criterion was unavailable or incomplete.
✓ Does the company have a defined harassment policy that includes promptly addressing reported incidents?
“The most important thing when you are unsure about the appropriateness of the conduct is that you ask for help. There are several places you can turn for assistance. The first option is to talk with your manager. If you do not feel comfortable with that course of action, the other resources that you may contact are:
- Divisional Compliance Departments
- Office of Ethics
- Privacy Office
- Office of General Counsel
- Human Resources Department
- Speak Up at msdethics.com
The Speak Up tool at msdethics.com is operated by an independent third-party service, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and allows employees and colleagues to raise concerns or ask questions confidentially in their preferred language via phone at 1-877-319-0273 or internet at msdethics.com.
When you Speak Up at msdethics.com, you may remain anonymous, (where permitted by law); although you are encouraged to identify yourself, since doing so will facilitate communication. The information you provide using the Speak Up tool at msdethics.com will be relayed to the Office of Ethics for response or investigation.”
Ref: pg 13, Merck Employee Handbook
Stakeholder Engagement
✓ Does the company demonstrate a commitment to helping external stakeholders address gender equality issues?
“According to the World Health Organization, approximately 295,000 women died globally during and following childbirth in 2017. Most of these deaths (94%) occurred in low- and middle-income countries. Most of these deaths could have been prevented. If we don’t do more, mothers, daughters and granddaughters will continue to lose their lives. And their loss will impact many.”
Ref: pg 1-2, Merck For Mothers Campaign
✓ Does the company offer and support initiatives that promote gender equality in the community?
“In 2011, in response to this crisis, our company created Merck for Mothers, a $500 million global initiative to help create a world where no woman has to die while giving life.
“By helping address one of the oldest and most preventable global health tragedies, we believe Merck for Mothers will have an important impact on society,” said Ken Frazier, Merck’s chairman and then-CEO, as he introduced this new program at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly.
Merck for Mothers began its mission by joining the UN and collaborators around the globe to apply its scientific and business expertise to help save women’s lives, aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 3.1 to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 births by 2030. Achieving this goal would save the lives of approximately 1.4 million women between 2016 and 2030.”
Ref: pg 2, Merck For Mothers Campaign
✘ Does the company demonstrate a commitment to helping internal stakeholders/employees address gender equality issues?
Information regarding this criterion was unavailable or incomplete.
✘ Does the company offer equity-focused trainings, speaker programs, or events for employees?
Information regarding this criterion was unavailable or incomplete.