According to Badenoch & Clark, when asked whether they trust their employer to provide information on business performance, 32% of 16 – 24 year olds revealed they refuse to believe either ‘most’ or ‘any’ of what they are told by their employer.
This is in contrast to 18% last year, suggesting Generation Y is becoming increasingly disillusioned with the workplace.
Those in the legal profession were particularly sceptical of their employers, with 37% of employees across all age ranges stating that they do not believe either ‘most’ or ‘any’ of what their employers tells them about business performance.
A further 26% admitted to only trusting ‘parts’ of what their employer tells them and only one in ten (11%) stated they ‘totally trust’ their employer.
By comparison, only 6% of HR professionals distrust their employers and almost a quarter of sales and marketing (23%) and administration and clerical professionals (23%) totally trust their employers.
Guy Emmerson, associate director of Badenoch & Clark, said: "Without a culture of trust in the workplace, employers will struggle to foster employee engagement and, in-turn, retain their workforce.
"As recruitment activity levels pick up, employers need to consider the strength of their relationship with employees across all levels of the business, or run the risk of staff voting with their feet.
"Younger employees – the so-called Generation Y – have specific expectations of their employers, so encouraging more two-way conversations on business performance will prove vital to increasing levels of trust and gauging job satisfaction. Without this it will be become harder to obtain any kind of staff loyalty and in-turn retain talented graduates.
"The research highlights the detrimental impact the recession has had on the workforce, not just in terms of job losses and pay freezes, but in terms of the relationship between employer and employee. Now is the time to start repairing this relationship and being more honest and open with employees about business performance."