Pros
1. Pay able to provide for the family 2. Benefits 3. Time off 4. Adequacy of flexibility of management with regards to time off.
Cons
1. Lack of growth and career development 2. Prevailing stated attitude that every employee is "responsible for their own career" and then have to run things by management just to POST for a job. 3. Old technology - very old 4. Management is protected like they are infallible. Many of the managers are misplaced and only swallow the corporate jargon. They are maintainers not innovators or even motivators. 5. Communication is weak. Management claims transparency and then lays off entire departments. Needs to improve. 6. Culture of reprisal. Merck claims to encourage, "Courage and Candor," but employees are told on a regular basis that how they communicate is disfavored. Only serves to have a chilling effect on "courage and candor." 7. Learn that quality of work and performance reviews is not how to get ahead EARLY. Get plugged in, have lunch with many different people, have many different mentors, if permitted get on as many different projects as you can. Being intelligent, hard-working, and ambitious is not enough. You also must be best-friends with hiring managers to advance.