HR Magazine - We’re not our age, we’re our energy

When it comes to workplace motivation, generational stereotypes have long dominated the conversation. But what if we’ve been looking at the whole thing backwards?

Millennials need purpose. Gen Z wants flexibility. Baby Boomers crave structure. Gen X? They're the self-reliant, often-overlooked middle child of the workforce. Sound familiar?

During my PhD-led study on personal human energy management, we made a pivotal discovery: when it comes to what energises us, we are not our age, we’re our energy.

Yes, working styles may differ across generations. Communication preferences, feedback expectations, even meeting fatigue thresholds, vary. But if you’re trying to motivate your team, age might be the least helpful lens.

Let’s start with a surprising insight: a chart we created to highlight the most energizing activity by age, reveals that across every generation – from Gen Z to Baby Boomers – the top-three most energising activities are nearly identical:

Thinking or learning new things
Engaging in physical activity, and
Using creativity.

That’s right, despite the frequent headlines touting generational divides, there’s remarkable alignment across age groups around what actually fuels us. Differences appear not in age, but in energy types.

For example, someone with 'kinetic energy' is most energised by engaging in physical activity; no surprise there.

A 'synergistic' type? They light up from interacting with others.

'Responsives' crave space, and often find physical activity equally motivating.

'Rigorous' energy types thrive on learning new things, while 'generatives' feel most alive when they’re creating.

Each energy type has a unique charger: an activity that revitalises them the fastest and most effectively. When you motivate your team based on what's instinctually energising – instead of generalisations based on age brackets – you’re tapping into something deeper: emotional energy, the kind that fuels creativity, resilience, productivity and ultimately, results.

For HR professionals, this has profound implications.

Too often, we make assumptions. We plan employee engagement programmes based on generational checkboxes. We design career paths around age milestones. We organise team-building activities assuming that a 25-year-old wants something vastly different from a 50-year-old.

But motivation is more nuanced than that. It's internal, not external. And that’s why energy typing is such a powerful tool.

Here’s the call to action for HR teams and modern managers: stop managing by generational assumptions. Start managing by energy type.

Not only is this more accurate, but it’s more actionable. Age is static. Energy is dynamic. And when you know someone’s energy type, you can customise everything from recognition to responsibilities to recharge rituals.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

Have a kinetic team member who’s dragging in long Zoom meetings? Give them walking one-on-ones, standing brainstorms or a fresh challenge or competition of some kind.
Your generative designer in a creative rut? Assign them a passion project or give them a blank slate problem to ignite their spark.
A responsive analyst shutting down during team debates? Give them solo time to process before asking for input.
That rigorous operations lead who seems disengaged? Enroll them in a learning cohort; they thrive on structure and mastery.
Your synergistic social media manager losing steam? Get them collaborating; they’re at their best when connecting.

This shift isn’t just a warm-and-fuzzy wellness tactic. It’s a peak performance strategy for the AI-powered marketplace.

Understanding energy types helps leaders unlock each team member’s natural motivation style. It improves morale, increases retention, and fuels engagement in a way ping-pong tables and pizza parties never will.

So yes, age may shape how we show up at work. But energy is what determines how we light up at work.

Let’s stop labelling by decade and start leading by energy. Because when it comes to what really motivates us, we’re not our age, we’re our energy.

By Erin King, a researcher, author and keynote speaker based in California