Merck's CHRO on how to 'innovate, upgrade, and use technology' to broaden talent and boost employee morale

• Steve Mizell, CHRO of Merck, joined the pharmaceutical leader in 2018.
• The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated an ongoing digital transformation within the HR organization.
• Mizell told Insider how data and tech innovation help develop employee programs and attract talent.

Steven Mizell, the executive vice president and chief human resources officer at pharmaceutical leader Merck, has been a CHRO for nearly two and a half decades in industries including energy and manufacturing. Most recently, he spent 14 years at agriculture giant Monsanto.

But Mizell's decision to join Merck in 2018, with its long history of breakthrough medicines and vaccines, was "an opportunity to be in the center of what I think will be a major transformation in the pharmaceutical industry," he told Insider, at a time where there are huge, unmet medical needs for a global population that is growing and aging.

"Building on Merck's history and tremendous legacy to support the needs of humanity and the planet was very attractive to me," he said.

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, which Mizell said accelerated what was already a significant digital transformation of the HR organization, including implementing virtual communication, training, development, and assessment tools.

"Technology is no longer simply nice to do at a leisurely pace," he said. "It's a real imperative to attract and retain talent in a global workforce, so the HR function has to think a lot differently."

Surveying employees to gauge needs and morale

Historically, he explains, human resources efforts have been driven by intuition and anecdotal information. But now, data and analytics can help develop programs that are responsive to employee needs in a more precise way.

For example, during the pandemic Merck used online tools to survey its employees, which the company now does every quarter and sometimes on demand. They found that there was a huge need for daycare and other support for employees and their families.

"We now have the data to quickly analyze comments, sort people in different groups, functions and geographies, and uncover insights," Mizell said. "We were able to take action to put things in place a lot faster."

Using technology to attract broader talent

Technology can also help with the recruitment of highly skilled workers: For example, Merck leverages tools by companies such as LinkedIn, which use AI to make sure job descriptions are as broad and gender-neutral as possible. "We want to make sure that we're able to attract a broad range of people from what have historically been underrepresented groups in pharma," he said. The company also wants to boost its ability to secure candidates with sought-after technology skills - including data science and coding - that go beyond traditional industry skills like chemistry and biology.

In addition, today's workforce is very diverse and has high expectations of their employers, said Mizell. "So it's extremely important for us to use all the tools and technology that we have to create a great place where people want to come to work and make the highest contributions that they possibly can," he said.

Onboarding thousands of employees remotely

Over the past year, innovative digital technology was essential for one of Merck's biggest HR challenges: hiring nearly 11,000 people through a virtual process during the pandemic. "These are people who have never been on a Merck site before," Mizell said.

The biggest obstacle to remote hiring, he explained, was getting people comfortable with remote interviews and making decisions without being able to see candidates in person. "From an HR perspective, I've been really pleased with the team to be able to essentially turn on a dime and do something we had never done before," he said.

Building partnerships between HR and IT teams

When it comes to technology innovation, one important success factor has been a strong partnership between the HR and the IT organization, Mizell said. "It's a deep partnership where there are technology people embedded within the HR function," he said. "The CIO and I have a cross-functional agreement where I've got people from his organization that support my team directly in the innovation of HR capabilities." For example, that partnership was essential as Merck implemented Workday, a cloud-based HR solution. "It has helped us innovate, upgrade, and use technology much more efficiently," he said.

Over the next 2 to 3 years, Mizell said applying technology to employee engagement and satisfaction is going to be one of his team's biggest priorities. In addition, building an increasingly seamless technology experience in a hybrid workplace will be essential.

Equally important, he added, will be continuing to build speed across the organization. "Going forward, we have to figure out how to make decisions more quickly and use technology to support that," he said. "It's all about keeping our employees satisfied and excited to be at Merck."