Yes, it's possible. A positive merger experience begins with the acquiring company's motivation. The critical question is whether the move is designed for expansion of opportunity or purely to increase stockholder profits.
Mergers involving publicly traded firms often have the primary goal of reducing overhead.
For professional services companies, that means cutting salary costs. Hence the hatchet time following many merger and acquisition transactions. But professional service firms' very existence depends on a stable cadre of knowledgeable and motivated employees. It's very difficult to find good people in the first place, much less replace them after a layoff or walkout. We therefore must adopt a long-term approach, and take great care not to lose our employees, who represent the earnings potential for our business.