Author archives

Kimberly Merriman, Professor of Management, Manning School of Business, University of Massachusetts. Lowell. Dr. Merriman is a widely published scholar and recognized authority by sources such as the Wall Street Journal and The Conference Board. She formerly served on the faculty of Penn State University and Wichita State University. She has extensive involvement in the real estate industry and in analyzing real estate trends pertaining to the workforce.

Employees are feeling burned over broken work-from-home promises and corporate culture ‘BS’ as employers try to bring them back to the office

As vaccinations and relaxed health guidelines make returning to the office a reality for more companies, there seems to be a disconnect between managers and their workers over remote work. A good example of this is a recent op-ed written by the CEO of a Washington, D.C., magazine that suggested workers could lose benefits like health care if they insist on continuing to work remotely as the COVID-19 pandemic recedes. The staff reacted by refusing to publish for a day. While the CEO later apologized, she isn’t alone in appearing to bungle the transition back to the office after over a year in which tens of millions of employees were forced to work from home. A recent survey of full-time corporate or government employees found that two-thirds say their employers either have not communicated a post-pandemic office strategy or have only vaguely done so. As workforce scholars, Kimberly Merriman, David Greenway and Tamara Montag-Smith are interested in teasing out how workers are dealing with this situation. Their recent research found that this failure to communicate clearly is hurting morale, culture and retention.

Subjects: Communications, Healthcare, KM, Leadership, Management, Telecommuting