Research commissioned by whistleblowing charity Protect has found a generational divide in attitude towards calling out workplace wrongdoing between today’s youngest staff and their older counterparts.
The YouGov study found that staff aged 18-24 were less likely than all other colleague age groups to notify their employer of issues they witness at work.
Asked what they would do if they saw someone’s health and safety being endangered at work, only 56% of 18-24-year-old respondents to the survey said they would notify bosses.
The figure compares with 70% for 25-34 year-olds; 77% for 35-44 year-olds; and 86% for those aged 55 and above.
Those in the youngest age group were the least likely to report any of the 10 categories of wrongdoing covered by the survey.
The other nine categories asked about in the survey were: someone stealing or defrauding money from your employer, customer or service user; if I believe someone is covering up wrongdoing; the company breaking the law (for example does not have the right insurance); actions that risk or actually damage the environment; breach of company policy; discriminatory behaviour; sexual harassment; racial harassment; and bullying.
The findings – which are based on responses from 2,121 UK adults provided this month – show sexual harassment is the type of incident younger employees would be most likely to blow the whistle over.
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