New data from the CIPD shows the range of alternative policies some employers are pursuing as alternatives to redundancy.
With yet more job cuts announced this week, the report reveals half of employers have introduced recruitment freezes to offset the need to make redundancies, while 44% are terminating temporary or agency worker contracts to prevent shedding in-house staff.
One in seven (15%) have introduced short-term working - such as the scheme KPMG announced last week for its staff. Other measures employers say they are taking to help avoid redundancies include more use of flexible working (19%), cutting bonuses (17%) and wage cuts (7%).
These are the policies that often fall under the radar when it comes to media coverage, and those that Personnel Today are keen to feature: the extent to which employers are introducing alternatives to avoid or minimise the number of redundancies they make.
Measures such as recruitment freezes, shedding temporary workers and short-term working are clearly not without pain, but they can often be preferable to cutting jobs.
CIPD chief economist John Philpott - fast becoming the voice of the recession as far as employers' are concerned - said that redundancies are "only the tip of the iceberg" when it comes to the impact on the jobs market.
"While the report offers some comfort to people on permanent contracts who fear being made redundant the news is less good for agency temps, contract staff and those, including graduates, seeking to be recruited into jobs," he warns.
