As the unemployment rate, currently at 8.8 percent, has started to decrease, employers should be cautious that workers don't jump ship for new opportunities.
Over one third of employees, 36 percent, hope to leave their job in the next 12 months, according to a survey by the insurance company MetLife.
The study also showed that 47 employees reported feeling "very strong loyalty" to their employers, down from 59 percent in 2008, when the downturn began.
But employers may not be aware of their employees' decreasing loyalty. Of the employers surveyed, 51 percent said their employees have very strong loyalty to them. Half of employers said the same when the survey was conducted in 2008.
MetLife conducted the interviews during the fourth quarter of 2010, the ninth year it has done such a survey. The company interviewed 1,508 employers and 1,412 full time employees at companies with a minimum of two employees.