Employee Engagement Performance Data Summary 2005-2008

	2008	2007	2006	2005
Percentage response rate to Culture Assessment survey*	65	72	77	NA
Percentage of employees "fully engaged" or "engaged"	51	53	NA	NA
Number of Company-wide Employee Business Briefings	5	5	5	4

^* Survey not conducted prior to 2006.

In 2008, 65 percent of Merck employees worldwide completed the Merck/MSD Culture Assessment: more than 37,000 respondents. This participation rate was considered to be high by the independent organization that administered the survey on Merck’s behalf.

The 2008 results were less favorable than 2007, but in nearly every dimension were still more favorable than the results achieved in 2006. Our March 2009 administration of the assessment showed positive gains in all dimensions of the model, in some cases equaling or exceeding the high scores obtained in 2007. These assessments highlighted that Merck’s strengths remain:

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

Highlights of the responses from our March 2009 administration of the assessment include:

• Merck scored in the 93rd percentile on employee agreement that there is an ethical code that guides our behavior and tells us right from wrong.
• With a score at the 87th percentile there is strong agreement that there is clearly a right way and a wrong way to do things at Merck.
• A score at the 84th percentile revealed that Merck employees strongly agree that there is a clear and consistent set of values that governs the way we do business.
• Employees also said ignoring core values will get you in trouble (90th percentile).

For more information on Merck’s approach to ethics, click here

Areas for improvement included:

• Customer Focus: Employee feedback indicated the need to help ensure all employees have a deeper understanding of customer needs and concerns, and to develop a more rigorous process to integrate customer interests into our decision making.
• Agility: 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 capabilities needed to execute effectively against current and future business challenges.

In direct response to employee feedback, the Company is placing priority focus on responding to customer needs, developing the capabilities of our employees, and acting with agility by including these areas as specific measures on our 2009 Company scorecard. We also have continued to reinforce our leadership standards by holding leaders and employees accountable for desired behaviors, such as championing change, understanding our customers needs, and delivering value to our customers.