AI Can Solve the Gen-Z And Millennial Engagement Crisis

This expert opinion by Adam Hanft, CEO of Hanft Ideas, was originally published on Inc.com.

There’s nothing I like more than when two trends collide to create a new opportunity. The first trend is the brutal reality of collapsing workplace motivation. Gallup has seen a “dramatic drop” in engagement over the past few years. The percentage of engaged older Millennials slipped from 39 percent to 32 percent, with younger Millennials and Gen-Zers experiencing similar declines. Also, 47 percent of Gen-Z workers say they are “coasting,” as the quiet quitting phenomenon turns into “resenteeism.” Acknowledgment matters too, as employees who feel appreciated are five times more likely to stay. 

This brings me to the second trend—AI agents and intensely personalized experiences. It’s impossible to ignore the buzz surrounding AI agents, which are already scheduling meetings, booking trips, negotiating prices, and functioning as your “second brain,” which is how AI start-up TwinMind describes it. 

Create Personal Motivation Agents 

The data sophistication is here to let AI analyze individual workplace behavior—emails, meeting notes, calendar rhythms, chat sentiment, and project progress. Then, an AI agent can build a dynamic, real-time understanding of everyone’s motivational drivers and risks. Traditional solutions like annual surveys and generic recognition programs are blunt instruments aiming at a moving target. As the data shows, they don’t work.  

Motivation is complex, personal, and constantly evolving, demanding a real-time, survey-free future. Traditional HR has failed to address the crisis. Only a personalized AI agentic solution can effectively scale engagement, even gamify it. At a moment when the fear is that AI will collapse the workforce, turning those lucky enough to survive into robotic co-pilots, a personal motivation agent can transform workplace culture. 

Enter The AI Motivation Plan 

Personal motivation agents will passively collect and synthesize an individual’s digital signals—without interrupting workflow or relying on self-reporting—to create a dynamic, motivational blueprint. Millennials and Gen-Zers have made it clear that they want and need this feedback. According to Gallup, only 19 percent of Millennials say that they regularly receive feedback from their managers, and only 17 percent find it useful.  

What Personal Motivation Agents Will Deliver 

Your personal motivation agent will start by getting to know you. It will develop personal insights into what drives engagement and commitment using whatever framework an employer chooses. I personally like Daniel Pink’s model of autonomy, mastery, purpose, and connection. These are basic emotional requirements, without which you find people losing engagement.

Once it understands what makes someone tick—including TikTok—a personal motivation agent can inspire them to engage meaningfully. Imagine a two-way conversation between Brian, an enterprise sales guy at a SaaS company, and Jenny, his personal motivation agent. 

• “Hey Brian, good morning. It’s Jenny. You still bummed today?” 
• “Yeah, I just can’t get it together.” 
• “I hope you’re not still listening to the red pill, manosphere podcasting stuff.” 
• “Well …”  
• “Listen, do me a favor. Take a break and focus on your sales goals at work. I know you can crush those monthly numbers. I’ll be looking at Salesforce.” 
• “I have no doubt—you’re up my butt all the time.” 
• “That’s uncool to say. Remember you told me about Phil, such a cool mentor. Talk to him today. If you don’t, I may not be so gentle with you next time.” 

This conversational example includes psychological insights and motivation, deliberate life-and-work boundary crossing, and, of course, some mild flirtation. 

Personal Motivation Agents Can Boost Workplace Engagement 

I can imagine hundreds of thousands of personal motivation agents—millions, actually—across enterprises. They will use automated triggers and in-the-moment responses to human emotions and work conditions—all with the purpose of creating experiences that drive engagement. They will all hit on the dimensions of autonomy, mastery, purpose, and connection that get someone out of bed in the morning. 

Indeed, the very fact that an employer is offering a personal motivation agent might transform the way people feel about where they work. The retention benefits can be profound. If you quit your job, you will never speak to your personal motivation agent again.  

I can hear the warning voices right now about how this is an Orwellian model that is one more example of surveillance capitalism. However, a generation of employees is hungry for feedback, and they are used to sharing data and personal information online and getting valuable feedback in return. 

AI is at the level where personal motivation agents are a reality, and they will only improve. Connectors to platforms like Gmail, Monday, Teams, and Slack can be easily built to pull in the data required to understand Brian and power his personal motivation agent. 

The future of engagement won’t come from HR and culture. That’s failed. It needs to come from deep inside. With today’s technology, a personal motivation agent is just what Millennials and Gen Z are asking for.