One of my former coworkers reached out and said she wants out of Merck ASAP. While the company is – clearly – not perfect, it had its perks for those that could find a role they liked. One of those perks was PTO policy: you started with three weeks, and every five years of work you’d add three days, maxing out at six weeks. Sick days were technically unlimited, which was always nice, because you didn’t have to stress about having enough days to cover your pay when suffering from an illness.
Apparently, as of January 2024, everyone at every level, no matter the tenure, is getting 25 days of PTO total. This is coming after the news that everyone has to come back to work for a minimum of three days per week ().
I can only guess they’re looking to reduce headcount but don’t want to pay severance or call them layoffs?