Work Is Broken — And Gen Z Is Paying the Price in an AI-Shaped Workplace, Says Marlee

New book Find Your Workverse launches today, reframing careers, AI, and the future of work

NEW YORK, Jan. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Work is broken — because the world changed and work didn’t.

Today marks the global launch of Find Your Workverse, a new book that names what millions of people — especially Gen Z — are experiencing but haven’t yet had language for: modern work is being run on a model built for a world that no longer exists.

Careers were designed as ladders. Work now behaves like an ecosystem.

AI didn’t create this shift — it exposed it.

And when the system fails, individuals are blamed for problems they didn’t design.

Workverse explains why high performance so often collapses into burnout, why busyness is mistaken for progress, and why an entire generation feels disoriented entering work — even when they’re capable, motivated, and ambitious.

Rather than offering productivity hacks or resilience slogans, Workverse gives readers a map: a way to understand how work actually functions in an AI-accelerated, non-linear world — before misalignment becomes burnout and confusion becomes self-doubt.

“We’re asking people to build careers inside systems that no longer hold still,” said Michelle Duval, Founder of Marlee and co-author of Workverse. “When work breaks down, we blame individuals — their mindset, motivation, or resilience — instead of questioning whether the system itself still makes sense. Workverse exists to name that mismatch and give people a way forward.”

Why Workverse, and why now

Gen Z is entering the workforce at the exact moment when:

• careers are no longer linear
• roles change faster than job descriptions
• AI reshapes expectations before norms exist
• stability is promised — but rarely delivered

Older generations were trained for ladders and learned ecosystems later. Gen Z is being dropped straight into the ecosystem – the Workverse – without a map.

Workverse is written for early-career talent navigating this reality, for leaders trying to understand why traditional models of performance, engagement, and productivity are no longer working, and for parents seeking to better understand the world of work their children are entering.

The book positions AI not as a threat or shortcut, but as a new collaborator in the work system — one that changes how decisions are made, how value is created, and how humans need to work together.

Grounded in large-scale global research

The insights in Workverse are informed by one of the largest ongoing studies of motivation, collaboration, and work behaviour globally, drawing on data from nearly 400,000 individuals across more than 150 countries, spanning generations from the Silent Generation through to Gen Z.

The research examines how motivation, collaboration, and performance differ across generations and how misalignment between individuals and work systems leads to disengagement and burnout — even among high performers.

From map to operating system

Workverse is the conceptual framework behind Marlee, a human performance and collaboration operating system. Workverse helps people understand the system they’re entering; Marlee helps organisations redesign the system they’re already inside.

About Workverse

Workverse is a guide to navigating modern work — from finding future roles that fit, to collaborating with AI and humans, to building careers that evolve with the world instead of breaking under it. It blends motivation science, generational research, and real-world insight into how work is actually changing.

About The Authors

Michelle Duval is a pioneer of coaching science and the founder of Marlee. For more than two decades, her research has focused on motivation, performance, and how people work and lead in complex, rapidly changing environments.

Dan Negroni is an executive leadership coach, speaker, educator, and founder of Launchbox. With more than 30 years of experience as a CEO, attorney, and sales leader, he works at the intersection of generational change, leadership, and early-career development.

Coach Marlee is an AI coach developed by Marlee, developed from long-term research into human motivation and performance. In Workverse, Coach Marlee supports readers personalise insights and apply them to modern work.

The book is available globally from today.

About Marlee

Marlee is an AI and human collaboration and performance company that works with individuals, teams, and organisations in 195 countries. As hybrid work, Gen Z, and AI rapidly reshape how work gets done, Marlee helps people and organisations understand how they work, where misalignment shows up, and how teams can sustain high performance. Marlee draws on research-based models and proprietary data covering more than 16 billion data points related to motivation and performance. Used across diverse industries, Marlee helps align people, AI, systems, and organisational mission — enabling people and organisations to adapt as work, technologies, and expectations continue to change.

Press Contact:

Jade Grimwood
+1 (315) 459 9004
http://marlee.com

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SOURCE Marlee