If you had asked a banker what outplacement was during the redundancies of the early 1990s, you might well have drawn a blank. Not any more. Outplacement is now an integral part of the redundancy process. Everyone, from analyst to managing director, is helped through the trauma of redundancy and massaged back into employment.

But at an average of £3,500 (€5,600) a head for a three-month programme, outplacement does not come cheap.