To the Editor:
“Colleagues More Than Happy to Go Running After the Boss,” by Shivani Vora (Urban Athlete column, Dec. 24), makes me glad that my workplace does not have an “exercise collective.”
William Gallagher’s statement that his boss and a fellow employee “were so excited about running and encouraged all of us to join them that it was hard to not do it” unwittingly illustrates the coercive power of the workplace.
When your boss’s approval is essential to your job, how can any workplace activity he promotes be truly voluntary?
Felicia Nimue Ackerman
Providence, R.I., Dec. 24, 2010
Note from KBJ: I read the article very carefully. There is no evidence of coercion, manipulation, duress, pressure, or undue influence on the employees. What in the world is the letter writer talking about?
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 