Editor's comment: Communication calamity

Aviva's evasiveness over revealing redundancy numbers attached to its well-publicised £400m cost-saving mission - coupled with the consequences of later admitting this to be as high as 800 (not counting the one in four directors who have already left) - reads like a textbook lesson in how not to communicate job losses.

Naturally it's never an easy or comfortable task to have to spell out the number of roles potentially affected by significant strategic shake-ups, but upfront honesty is by far the best policy for