Number of employees as of December 31, 2007
As of December 31, 2007, Merck was represented in 60 countries by 192 companies and manufactured products at 54 sites in 24 countries. With the acquisition of the former Serono S.A., the number of employees worldwide increased to 30,968. The workforce grew by 1,516 in Switzerland, 691 in Italy and 268 in Germany. In Asia, 296 employees were hired, not least due to the sustained growth of the Liquid Crystals business. In Latin America, 287 employees were added. The sale of the Generics business to Mylan Inc. led to a decline in the total headcount by 4,641. The divestment was also directly responsible for the reduction in the size of the workforce by 349 in the United Kingdom and by 278 in France, taking into account the employees added by the Serono acquisition.
In terms of function, 24% of employees work in production, 34% in marketing and sales, 14% in research and development, and 6.6% in logistics. The remainder work in central functions such as engineering, IT and human resources.
