Inclusive Recruitment

We have established several recruiting initiatives designed to seek and attract diverse job candidates. For example, to address the shortage of talented minority students in the United States who choose biomedical research as a career, Merck made a 10-year, $20 million commitment to the United Negro College Fund in 1996 to establish the UNCF/Merck Science Initiative. In 2005, Merck announced a five-year renewal of our commitment to UNCF with a $13 million grant. This program is helping to expand the pool of outstanding minority researchers available to the general scientific community. To date, nearly 500 scholarships and fellowships have been awarded to promising African-American students through a competitive application process that selects candidates based on their academic achievements and their potential in the field of biomedical research. Fellows have gone on to pursue careers in a wide range of disciplines, from biochemistry and microbiology to pharmacology, neuroscience, biophysics and bioengineering. Thirteen recipients have also gone on to join Merck Research Laboratories in the past five years.

In 2008, working with the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, we launched another program to promote science education, the Alliance/Merck Ciencia (Science) Hispanic Scholars Program (PDF*). The program seeks to improve the ability of Hispanic students to achieve access to higher education and pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers.

In 2008, Merck formed a new partnership with Hire Heroes, USA, a charitable organization that helps provide employment opportunities nationwide for disabled veterans who are returning home.

Diversity and Career Development Training and Surveys

Merck offers employees a one-day training program on diversity, called Micro-inequities, which focuses on raising awareness of and addressing non-inclusive behaviors. To date, 22,000 employees have taken the course. Merck employees may also take advantage of, at Company expense, numerous external opportunities to support and enhance their career goals. Merck has sponsored African American, Hispanic/Latino, Women and Asian Pacific employees to complete multicultural career and leadership development programs. An internal program, You and Your Success, is available to all employees regardless of race, gender, age or sexual orientation. Employees also have access to an Open Mentoring tool which matches mentors and mentees and provides guidance to support mentoring.

One Merck Diversity and Inclusion Award

This international, annual award, introduced in 2006, recognizes diversity and inclusion excellence at all levels and throughout Merck globally, by individuals and teams. There are five award categories. The individual award categories are: Demonstrates Personal Leadership; Integrates and Collaborates; and Enhances Merck's External Image. The team award categories are: Supports Merck's Business Through Inclusion; and Enhances Merck's Image Through External Outreach.

Award recipients receive formal recognition from the Chairman, President & CEO at a special event broadcasted globally to employees each year.

Supplier Diversity

Merck's Supplier Diversity Program is another way we bring diverse talent into the Company globally.  Qualified diverse suppliers are pursued from all segments of the business community, which include minority-, women-, veteran-, service-disabled-, HUBZONE and gay and lesbian-owned  owned businesses. Merck's Supplier Diversity program has three major areas of focus:  business development, supplier development and strategic outreach. Minority-, women-, and veteran-owned business entities must be at least 51 percent-owned, operated and controlled by under-represented ethnic groups (Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American), women, veterans, or LGBT who are U.S. citizens and the business must be headquartered in the United States or Puerto Rico. The program expanded to the U.K. and Canada in 2008 for business based there.

Our supplier diversity program embraces not only the procurement of goods and services from minority, women and veteran-owned businesses, but also the development of suppliers. In 2007, Merck launched a diverse supplier mentoring program. Annually, we also participate in more than 25 external supplier conferences and networking events focused on minority-, women- and veteran-owned businesses, and are active national members in external organizations including the National Minority Supplier Development Council, the U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce and the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

Merck received the Corporation of the Year award from the Minority Supplier Development Council (MSDC) of Pennsylvania/New Jersey/Delaware in 2008. The criteria included corporate supplier diversity policy, CEO and senior management support and commitment, annual goals, inclusion in division / corporate scorecard, active representation on committees and board of MSDC, mentor programs, and consistent increase in the number of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware minority suppliers used by Merck.

Philanthropy

As part of Merck's diversity strategy, the Company directs about five percent of our giving toward ethnic, LGBT and/or disability nonprofit groups.  The majority of the funding supports the UNCF/Merck Science Initiative, but funding also supports the National Alliance for Hispanic Health/Merck Ciencia Hispanic Scholars Program, PhD Project, International Women's Health Coalition, and the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network.