When companies treat workers like yesterday’s garbage those workers eventually get pretty foul — foul toward their employers that is.

Right now, is seems almost every company is using the recession as an excuse for cutting pay, scaling back benefits, furloughing workers, and making workers work double duty because they’ve slashed so many jobs.

It’s unclear whether all these firms really had to take out the employee machete, but one thing is clear — the tenuous loyalty among American workers will be further bloodied when the recession is over.

A recent workplace study put out by staffing firm Adecco Group found that many workers are getting ready to put their job-seeking sneakers on and bolt out the door the first chance they get.

* More than half (54%) of employed Americans report that they are likely to look for new jobs once the economy turns around.
* And among workers 18-29, 71% say they are likely to look for new jobs once the upturn begins.

“Flight is a very human response when you feel mistreated,” says David Kaplan, a management professor with Saint Louis University. “Some people feel that the recession is providing cover for draconian measures employers have been wanting to do all along.”

While he doesn’t expect to see a 50 percent turnover rate in jobs in the future, this type of job churning is a product of almost any downturn. “You see people upset at the cut backs and they say to themselves ‘this place is not for me anymore,’” he explains.

Employers, he adds, have to be careful about lagging behind other employers when things start to improve, or they risk losing a whole lot of workers. “They’re going to have to give employees raises back, improve benefits and start having that holiday party again,” he stresses.

While it’s difficult to get the energy and guts up to look for another job, or career, I think the workplace carnage we’ve seen in the last year will be a great motivator. Reinstating the holiday soirées with their sandwich trays and stale veges with ranch dressing may not be enough to hold many of you down.

So, will you bolt when the recession is finally over?