At present, the threat of redundancy hangs over Britain's industries like a thick smog.

According to research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), one third of employers indicate further redundancies are being considered.

Imminent legislative reforms in employment law are set to exacerbate already difficult circumstances for many desperate employers. April will see the extension of flexible working rights to parents of children up to 16 years old, in addition to increased minimum holiday entitlements from 24 to 28 days and the introduction of new dispute resolution procedures.

Furthermore, the European Court of Justice recently decided that all employees retain full entitlement to annual leave when they have been absent for the whole of a working year and can carry over periods of annual leave from one year to the next.

Redundancies, however, are genuinely viewed by most as the last recourse. Generally, they are labour intensive, costly and involve loss of skills and experience. Positively, the CIPD found half of the employers polled had introduced alternative measures in an effort to stave off the need for redundancies.

There are, however, myriad options open to employers (and employees) to counter the threat of redundancy, the implementation of which requires genuine partnership on both sides of employment. The key is effective communication with employees about the circumstances affecting employers and alternative proposals.

These may include:

• CHANGES TO CONTRACTS:

Irrespective of circumstances, employers have no divine right to alter employees' contracts. These cannot be unilaterally varied without consent unless there is something within the contract permitting it. Even then, such clauses have limits. Employers who, for example, try to enforce salary drops or reductions in hours face difficulties.

With adequate communication, employees may consent to variations. It is open to the parties to negotiate these – perhaps on a temporary basis or with some method of future recompense for employees.

• OVERTIME FREEZES:

Contractual entitlements to overtime are relatively rare. As such, most employers should find themselves in a position to restrict non-essential overtime. Concerns over these proposals must be handled sensitively, however, as they could give rise to employee relations difficulties.

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