Gen Z workers are less trusting than past generations, says one CEO: ‘They aren’t afraid to push back’

When it comes to trust in their employer, how does Gen Z stack up against previous generations joining the workforce?

Kate Duchene is ready with an apt slogan.

“I would say there’s a lower level of trust coming in,” says the president and CEO of global professional services firm RGP . “I grew up in Missouri, so I always think of the license plate—'the Show-Me State .’ You’re not going to get it from day one.”

Plus, talent has more leverage than ever, Duchene tells me from Irvine, Calif. “And I think Gen Z in particular is saying, ‘We want something different in our relationship with work, and it’s going to be built on more flexibility, choice, transparency, and control.’”

Along with a growing number of Gen Z employees, Duchene has a son from that generation who also works in professional services. “I talk with him and his peers, and I think they are not buying into the traditional ‘I’ll have a job for life, I’ll be a full-time employee.’”

With that more entrepreneurial attitude comes, well, some attitude.

“They aren’t afraid to push back a little bit and then put their money where their mouth is and leave if they don’t feel heard or listened to,” Duchene says. “Baby-boomer loyalty is probably something of the past, and you have to stay really close to your employees, [keeping a pulse] on their concerns, desires, and plans so you don’t have as much turnover.”

For anyone who manages Gen Zers, communication is critical for building trust, stresses Duchene, whose 3,300-employee firm works with clients in industries such as health care, finance, and tech. That includes answering a ton of questions.

“Now there’s a lot more exploration of the why,” she says. “It’s not enough to explain a company’s mission and vision. You have to also make sure employees understand purpose, because that’s important to Gen Z and whether they’re gonna trudge up the hill with you.”

And unlike previous generations, Gen Z workers don’t view the promotional ladder as the Holy Grail, Duchene observes. “Gen Z wants to say, ‘Okay, can I work differently? Can I take some time off? Do I move sideways before I move up?’”

I recently chatted with the founder of a nonprofit who sees Gen Z workers chomping at the bit for some early leadership experience . Duchene has a different take.

“It sounds great in the beginning, and then when you realize what real people management means, I think Gen Z is like, ‘I don’t really want that.’”

Perhaps because they did so at college, Gen Z employees prefer working in teams, Duchene says: “While that can be good—because a lot of work that happens in business happens as a team—it has created an environment where Gen Z[ers], they don’t want to have to manage people.”

That’s creating challenges for organizational design and how work gets done, Duchene notes. It could also make companies flatter over time. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing, because probably we got too hierarchical,” Duchene says. “There are many studies of companies that just created too many layers, and that slows down decision-making.”

Trust cuts both ways. Is there anything Gen Z could be doing to build trust with employers?

Duchene invokes the mass quitting known as the Great Resignation . “There was a lot of ghosting-type behavior, and that destroys trust more than anything else,” she says. “If you demand [communication] of your employer, then you need to give it as well. And that communication is a lot about relationship-building, and trust follows relationship-building.”

Younger workers could also change their perspective on failure and treat constructive criticism as a gift, Duchene suggests.

“Gen Z needs to really embrace that and, say, look at failure as the opportunity to learn and then succeed the next time,” she says. “I think Gen Z struggles with that a little bit because that was a generation that grew up thinking everyone wins, and that’s just not reality.”

Maybe someday.

Nick Rockel
nick.rockel@consultant.fortune.com

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