Welcome to the 2025 workplace–where younger generations are disconnected and detached daily, at far higher rates than their baby boomer and Gen X counterparts. Is this the future we’re hoping for? Absolutely not, but it’s unfortunately the future we’re currently headed towards.
 

The impact of declining mental health and wellbeing in the workplace isn’t going unnoticed, as the World Health Organization estimates that 12 billion working days are lost each year to depression and anxiety, costing businesses $1 trillion in lost productivity. With Gen Z projected to make up 30% of the workforce by 2030, this begs the question - why haven’t we figured out a solution for improving mental health at work?

While the corporate wellness market is flourishing, set to reach $94.6 billion by 2026, we’re still falling short because more often than not, corporate leaders address mental health with one-size-fits-all programs such as wellness challenges, gym stipends, or mindfulness training. While this may help to some degree, it’s clearly…not working. The answer lies in what we often overlook–how different generations in the workplace are motivated.

Understanding what motivates people will help executives immediately nix out any perks that are falling flat (perhaps an office nap pod won’t solve deep-seated systemic issues after all), and instead inform and train your team, particularly leadership and mid-level managers, on how to better communicate and connect, build resilient teams that can handle high-stress situations, navigate conflict, and develop an energizing career track–which are all areas that can cause severe anxiety when not addressed properly.

A study we published in October 2024 analyzed responses from more than 390,000 employees to discover how and why each generation is uniquely motivated, as well as what common attitudes they have about the workplace. The study covers the five generations that make up our current workforce: the Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z.

The findings revealed the dramatic extent to which work motivations change across generations, revealing three distinct themes. Corporate leaders can lean on these to help increase understanding and connection, and ultimately decrease anxiety and depression within the workplace (a win-win!).

Digital Natives and Anxiety: Understanding Gen Z’s Need for Validation at Work

Many hiring managers have written off Gen Z as the most challenging generation to work with, and looking at their unique motivators gives us a clue into why some feel this way.

Our data tells us Gen Z doesn’t value operating by gut feeling or intuition alone, as this motivation has diminished by 60% when compared to earlier generations. Today’s younger workers were raised with information readily available at their fingertips. Over time, repeatedly not needing to rely on instinct to make decisions can diminish self-trust and increase anxiety. Instead, Gen Z prefers gathering data and hearing ideas from others, such as their managers, as a starting point – a motivation that has increased by 56%. With this in mind, managers can ask younger team members to turn inward when they need to make decisions, encouraging them to share their opinions without judgment to help increase psychological safety and build self-trust. Further, one-on-one coaching can help younger employees develop this skill, reducing anxiety as they get closer to taking on leadership roles themselves.

Navigating the Need to Address Problems and Balance the Mental Load

Earlier generations are often self-starters, energized by aspirational goals and objectives, with less of a desire to find and solve problems. This is not the case for most Millennials and Gen Z, as data indicates a 42% drop in the desire to jumpstart initiatives and a significant 69% rise in the propensity to predict, prevent and solve problems.

Asking earlier generations to drive against their intrinsic motivation to constantly identify risk or requiring younger generations to work towards a lofty goal without a clear roadmap are both recipes for anxiety and even burnout.

Businesses can focus on each group’s strengths to avoid creating a heavier mental load. Encourage earlier generations to lay out clear steps and examples of what success looks like for new and evolving initiatives and proactively speak to any issues that may arise. Or better yet, turn to Gen Z teammates who are energized by and have a superpower for spotting what should be avoided, minimized, or removed. For Millennials and Gen Z, set up a recurring time and space for idea generation, encouraging senior team members to set the tone before inviting others to join in.

Addressing Hyperfixation on the Details and a Dip in Strategic Thinking

A third distinction reveals itself when we look at differences in how we view the scope of our work, as we see a 56% decrease across the generations away from “big picture thinking” and a 120% increase in being detail-oriented. Big-picture thinking gives us the strategy we need to solve major problems, prioritize what matters, and do away with what doesn’t. Without this, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the details – which can contribute to stress, anxiety, and burnout. To help younger generations develop this skill, address the gap head-on and offer training on topics such as navigating ambiguity, developing comfort with the unknown, and becoming a strategic leader.

Another exercise I've had great success with in my own team involves getting a group together and first naming a random object–for example, a cherry. From there, ask the question, “what is a cherry an example of?” Someone might suggest that it's food. Next, ask, “what is food an example of?” Another colleague may interject, “a way to nourish ourselves.” Keep asking that question to help employees think big and develop mental flexibility in levels of abstraction. To achieve the opposite, and help employees develop their attention to detail, you can ask a series of questions in the opposite direction, such as, “What’s in a cherry?,” to which someone might respond, “antioxidants.”

It is imperative today for businesses to better support their team’s mental health by taking a data-backed approach by understanding and acting on these unique generational motivations and attitudes, which will help reduce rates of anxiety and depression at work, while also preparing our next generation of leaders for an invigorating future ahead.

Author Bio

Michelle Duval is the Founder and CEO of Marlee, an early agentic AI that unlocks organizational intelligence and performance at scale. Michelle has spent more than two decades innovating at the intersection of technology, performance, and behavioral science. Well before ChatGPT, in 2019, Michelle brought Marlee, the world's first AI coach, to market. Today, Marlee is unlocking potential in more than 96,000 teams, including 90% of Fortune 100 and 70% of Fortune 500.

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