Restructuring, job losses, plant closures, changes to terms and conditions... such happenings have become very much the norm over the past couple of years.

Recent news about the proposed layoffs at Southernprint gave me pause for thought about the nature of carrying out this sort of painful change successfully, in such a way that the remaining employees in the reshaped business are still motivated to do their best for it.

Comments from workers on the shopfloor at Southernprint, and at fellow Wyndeham subsidiary Heron, point to a potentially damaging level of resentment among the worker bees. How is this going to pan out for the group, I wonder, in the medium- to long-term?

Talking with the boss of an unrelated largish print business a while back, he told me about a conversation he'd had with a disgruntled worker who was complaining about various aspects of his employment. While taking the comments on board, said boss also reminded the employee that he [the worker] was in possession of the ultimate sanction: he could choose whether to work for this company or not and was free to resign at any time. If it really is that bad here, go work somewhere else.

Given the current dearth of opportunities in many roles both within and outwith print, that may sound glib. But it certainly wasn't meant that way and the firm in question would, I believe, have a queue of eager applicants for any vacancies that might come up.

Conversely, a business that rides roughshod over its workforce and fails to get people on-side regarding painful changes surely risks future problems, due to the corrosive effects of a factory dominated by disaffected staff.

Handle worker bees roughly, and you're very likely to be stung.