Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) executive Jackie Reses, who heads up the company’s human resources and business development office, suddenly found herself dancing to the popular K-pop song “Gangnam Style” at the company’s weekly meeting. The public dance was the punishment for losing CEO Marissa Mayer’s contest for participating in the annual Yahoo Employee Satisfaction Survey.
Reses was joined by her staff in the dance because her department recorded the lowest participation of all departments at Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) in the survey. Mayer initiated the contest with the goal of increasing participation in that survey. All Things D reports that a number of employees said Reses had some “decent moves.”
This most recent survey showed that many employees at Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) believe that the company is heading in the right direction. That statistic rose 32 points year over year. Last year’s statistic showed that morale was exceptionally low at the tech giant, probably because the survey was sent to employees the same week that Yahoo! fired previous CEO Carol Bartz.
In spite of the significant improvement in employee morale at Yahoo!, the survey also indicated that employees are still worried about whether management can execute the changes needed to turn the company around. Some analysts seem to agree with their assessment.
Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) to Market Perform as the company reshuffled its advertising division and prepared to sell more assets in China’s Alibaba Group. Selling assets in Alibaba Group last quarter helped save the company’s results for the quarter, so there is some question about whether a similar sale will help the results for the current quarter.
