Suggestions for staff

The first psychological barrier that employees need to face is that nobody is indispensable. "It may sound obvious," says Cathy Schofield, "but companies don't merge for fun, they merge to tighten up."

The second lesson is that this applies equally to all levels within a company. Everybody is at risk. "The more senior you are, the more insecure you are," observes Cathy Schofield. Jane Winterbotham agrees. "As m.d., I knew I was the one most likely to end up without a job."

How much information managers should reveal is debatable. "Staff wanted information from me the whole time," says Ms Winterbotham. "But I had to find a balance, because it's not worth building up people's hopes and dashing them again every day. There was another layer of management above me that wasn't telling me everything, which was very frustrating."

So what can you do to keep your job? Dag Smith, who trained more than 20,000 people as head of the PTC, offers a simple piece of advice: "The way to be more secure is to make sure that what you do is done well, and is transferable."

David Attwooll, m.d. of Helicon, feels that staff and small companies should embrace aggressively the new opportunities offered by the larger owners. "It is better not to wait for things to be done to you. If you take the initiative, there are lots of moves you can make in a group that you can't as an individual company. It is a greatly expanded landscape, and you have to find the bits of this landscape that you can use."

Finally, there is the financial bottom line. "It's all down to money," says Ms Schofield. "If you're making it, you're going to be fine." Transworld's Larry Finlay agrees: "If your division is profitable you can afford to be a happier place, no matter what is going on above you."