Agentic AI: The future of workforce engagement

Employee engagement is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s a business imperative. Instead of asking employees to figure out where to go, what to do, and whom to ask, we should be building systems that do that thinking for them. That’s the key to workforce engagement.

Agentic AI is enabling new ways to delight employees and drive greater productivity across the organisation—but it takes a combination of AI, data, and workflows.

The trifecta: Workflows, data, and AI

Agentic AI has the ability to reason on its own, work across agents, and take action on the job at hand. It understands regular, natural language and intent, can pull from multiple systems at the same time, and carries out tasks for you. But agentic AI or data from a single system isn't enough to engage workers—it takes workflows too.

Consider employee onboarding. Deterministic workflows handle mission-critical, nonnegotiable steps such as background checks, employee verification, and updating payroll so that new employees can get to work on day 1.

Agentic AI builds on this, working smarter to turbocharge employees’ efficacy and success and save managers time. The technology can help create personalised new-hire ramp-up plans and schedule high-priority meetings. These activities are perfect for agentic AI because they involve multiple data sources and require reasoning and low-risk, automated actions.

If you limit your AI workflows to data that’s available only in your human capital management system, you also limit the scope of what it can accomplish and its ability to reason.

To maximise the impact of AI and workflows, you need as much data as you can provide. This data is often sitting in more than 100 systems across the organisation, many of which are outside of HR.

Easier work, better employee engagement

Modern platforms, such as the ServiceNow AI Platform, connect siloed and disparate systems and fragmented data to anticipate needs instead of just responding to them.  Here are a few examples from leaders in employee engagement.

Mondelez International created an all-encompassing employee portal with self-service as its cornerstone using ServiceNow HR Service Delivery and Employee Center. The solution seamlessly integrates with Workday, Microsoft Teams, and third-party payroll solutions.

This has resulted in a 76% jump in self-service, deflection rates of 30% to 60%, and a 78% drop in day 1 laptop delays—earning Mondelez first place in single-departmental employee portals in our 2025 Best Employee Portal Contest.

In another instance, Danone standardised its employee experience across 96,000 employees with HR Service Delivery and App Engine. It provided a single hub where employees can get what they need, when they need it, helping the company secure best overall employee portal in our contest.

This is the future of work—streamlined, intuitive, and people-centered.

The best experience wins

Organisations that get AI right won’t just retain talent—they’ll also improve business. Engaged employees move faster, stay longer, and build stronger cultures. We’re already seeing proof.

Highly engaged workers reap 23% higher profitability, 70% greater well-being, and 22% increased participation in the organisation than those who are disengaged, according to Gallup.¹

If your systems are still asking employees to chase answers, there’s a better way. Start with what they need, automate what you can, and empower them to handle the rest. That’s how you turn workflows into impact.

Find out how ServiceNow can help you create smarter, more human experiences for every employee.

¹ Gallup, State of the Global Workplace: 2024 Report