In September 2010, 64 percent of Merck employees (more than 58,000 respondents) worldwide completed the Merck/MSD Voice survey. This participation rate is considered to be high by the independent organization that administered the survey on Merck's behalf. The September organizational culture results were on par with those obtained in March. These findings showed that even post-merger, Merck's strengths remain:

• A clearly articulated sense of purpose and direction
• Strong core values
• High levels of employee involvement

Highlights From September 2010 Repsonses

• 87 percent of employees agreed that there is an ethical code that guides our behavior and tells us right from wrong.
• 83 percent of employees strongly agreed that there is clearly a right way and a wrong way to do things at Merck.
• 83 percent of employees strongly agreed that there is a clear and consistent set of values that governs the way we do business.
• 81 percent of employees also said that ignoring core values will get you in trouble.

Areas For Improvement

• Customer Focus: Employee feedback indicated the need to help all employees develop a deeper understanding of customer needs and concerns, and to develop a more rigorous process to integrate customer interests into our decision making.
• Candor and Courage: Employee feedback indicated that the company needs to be more flexible and adaptable in how we get things done and to be more responsive to changes in the business environment.
• Capability Development: Employee feedback suggested the need to invest more in developing the capabilities needed to execute effectively against current and future business challenges.

In direct response to employee feedback, the company is placing a priority on responding to customer needs, encouraging courage and candor, and making more rapid, disciplined decisions by including these areas as specific measures on our 2011 company scorecard. We also have continued to reinforce our leadership standards by holding leaders and employees accountable for desired behaviors, such as encouraging innovation, delegating decision-making authority, understanding our customers needs and delivering value to our customers. For more information on Merck's approach to ethics, click here