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I concur with the CIPD’s view that redundancies should be the last resort when it comes to reducing costs, yet it is equally important that companies recognise that the cost to business goes much further than £16,000 per head (News, 15 January). In many respects the indirect costs of redundancy can be more damaging: losing good talent, destabilising the remaining workforce and receiving negative publicity.
 

Language does not simply reflect what is going on in organisational life: it also influences what people think and what they do

Linda Holbeche, director of the Holbeche Partnership and visiting professor of HRM/OD at Cass Business School