Australia's peak union body has called on employers to hold their nerve and not sack workers this year despite a slowing economy.
ACTU president Sharan Burrow says a knee-jerk response of redundancies and retrenchments would extract a terrible human toll and be counter-productive for employers and the economy.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's latest business confidence survey, released on Tuesday, shows bosses are pessimistic about their ability to retain workers.
The chamber's index examining the expected number of full-time employees is now on par with record lows seen in the first half of 2001.
But Ms Burrow says businesses should redeploy staff, reduce excessive hours and invests in retraining and reskilling workers in order to be ready for the "eventual recovery" from the global financial crisis.
"The new business mantra for 2009 must be the three Rs: retain, reskill and redeploy," Ms Burrow said in a statement.
"Clever thinking will see business through these tough times without widescale job-shedding.
"Smart employers know that if they hold onto their workers during the downturn, they will be well-placed for when the recovery begins."
On the weekend, Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard urged bosses to rethink plans to sack workers amid fears of a steep rise in unemployment in 2009 as a result of the turmoil on world financial markets.
Ms Gillard asked employers to "think about the long term" when contemplating potential job cuts.
On Monday, Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) chief executive Heather Ridout said bosses would resist shedding staff wherever possible, but some job losses would be necessary during what she expected would be a "protracted downturn".
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