The normal (and dirty and painful) approach to cost cutting is to keep cutting despite the screams of affected staff until there is a perceived drop off in customer satisfaction. At that stage, you stop cutting and add back a little fat.
Its exactly like leaning the mixture on some engines; wait until you hear the roughness and rpm drop, then richen it a little (OK pedants, correct me) for max revs.
If you don't do it this way, most managers reason, you will never know how deep you can cut, and whether you can go further, because all staff scream at any cut at all.
In my humble opinion, the trouble with using this approach at Qantas, CASA, Airservices etc. is that you may get more than you bargain for in terms of a change in "customer satisfaction", like perhaps a large smoking hole in the ground.
At which time will begin the attempted exhonoration of the guilty and the punishment of the innocent.
You want an example? Read about the explosion and fire at Esso's Longford Gas plant. You keep cutting and demand "performance dividends" every year and eventually "Bang".