Letter: Loyal workers

Sir: Hamish McRae is too dismissive of the value of loyalty at work ("How to survive the arrival of the disloyal workplace", 15 October).

He is right to draw attention to the vast mergers now being planned across Europe, and probably correct to predict a gloomy future for the employees whose redundancy will represent an "efficiency saving". But companies cannot really flourish in the longer term if they are staffed by anxious survivors constantly looking over their shoulder. Nor can the boss simply send a memo round instructing employees to "be loyal".

Senior managers earn loyalty, as McRae implies, by training and developing their people. Loyal staff, like loyal customers and loyal investors, support competitiveness and quality. Loyal employees develop a network of contacts and invaluable experience that would be lost if they chose to walk.

Financiers and accountants are unable to place a monetary value on loyalty, trust and morale, which is perhaps why these qualities get overlooked in discussions about the logic of mergers and acquisitions.

JO GARDINER

Campaign Manager

The Industrial Society

London W1