It is obvious that some jobs motivate more than others. Most people have gone through very demotivating work experiences.
But… Why does the phenomenon of work demotivation occur? With this article we will learn about some of the main reasons that make some types of work a real ordeal for those who have to do it and what the differences are compared to those that are motivating.
There are few worse things to face a long day of work than doing so fighting different causes of work demotivation. And the thing is, when what you do, for one reason or another, does not give you a minimum of satisfaction, Every day seems eternal and we can even experience symptoms on a psychological level with changes in our mood, or signs of anxiety and/or depression
The causes of work demotivation make this a very frequent phenomenon. In fact, Spain is one of the developed countries where the rate of dissatisfied workers is highest, being almost 30% of the total. This is a very worrying figure, since it tells us that 3 out of every 10 Spanish employees feel dissatisfied in their work, and therefore it is very likely that they are suffering from several of the causes of work demotivation.
The process that generates the causes of work demotivation, in addition to having consequences for the employee himself, also has consequences for the company, since a person who is not comfortable in his or her job will more than likely have a very poor performance. below what you could experience if you were motivated with your task. Therefore, It is a problem that the organization must face because it is losing a value that can sometimes be very significant.
Sometimes, by establishing a series of changes that do not have to be especially costly for the company, a motivational effect can be generated on the employee workforce, by reducing the causes of work demotivation, which results in a very significant increase in productivity, and this is an issue that many companies overlook.
We have seen what repercussions the various causes of work demotivation can have, but now we are going to delve deeper into what these causes are.
1. A low salary
Indeed, the first idea that comes to mind when we think about the possible causes of work demotivation is having a low salary. It’s important to put attention on money is not an infinite source of motivation There are studies that show that, after a certain point, salary increases are no longer motivational. But it is necessary to reach that minimum if we want to prevent the worker from falling into a spiral of demotivation.
You can try to complement a low salary with other types of incentives, but in the medium term, if that salary remains in a lower range than what the person considers they deserve, it will not take long for one of the main causes of work demotivation to appear. Therefore, If the employer wants to avoid high turnover among his employees and aims to obtain maximum productivity from them, he must take care of the salary part On the contrary, what is expected is that the worker will leave the company as soon as he has an opportunity.
2. Lack of recognition
Another of the most frequent causes of work demotivation is simply the lack of recognition. If a person strives in his or her job to give the best version of himself and thus offer admirable productivity, but only finds indifference and even a negative attitude towards him, it is most likely that the person’s motivation will drop. plummeting.
It is not enough that our work is compensated with a fair salary. People also need to see other needs satisfied, and recognition is one of the most important. The feeling of injustice that may arise if this does not occur can trigger a loss of interest in the task performed and therefore generate lower productivity and therefore efficiency.
Something as simple as letting the employee know how important their task is, congratulating them on the results achieved, or highlighting their involvement with the company’s projects, can be a differentiating factor, and does not even represent a cost for the company, simply more efficient management of human resources, so this factor should not be taken lightly, far from it.
Job stagnation, believing that you have reached your ceiling or that you cannot evolve further in the workplace , which is not even a certain responsibility, is another cause of work demotivation. Maslow’s well-known pyramid tells us that the peak of needs is self-actualization. Therefore, if we believe that we can go further, do more complex or more satisfying tasks, but we are not given the opportunity to do so, it is reasonable to think that motivation will decrease.
If, as entrepreneurs, we want to have employees with a high level of motivation, A good strategy is to design career plans whose criteria are clear and defined, and everyone knows them With this method, a worker who has the necessary ambition to want to grow at work and reach higher positions in the company will know exactly what path they must follow and the actions they must take to advance in said career, and therefore both your motivation will rise.
4. Cognitive dissonance
An issue that can also be one of the causes of work demotivation is the cognitive dissonance that can arise between the worker’s ideals and the behaviors they are forced to perform at their tobacco stand. If a conflict occurs between these two variables, the employee will have less and less desire to perform their tasks. This is a very powerful phenomenon, because it directly attacks the person’s values.
Therefore, to be able to overcome it and have high motivation, the rest of the factors must be especially powerful, because if not, it is most likely that the worker’s beliefs will ultimately win the battle, and choose to leave your job in search of another that does not cause you that unhappiness The causes can be very personal, since they depend on each person.
Some clear examples would be being vegan and animal rights and working in a meat company, being anti-smoking and working in a tobacco company, being against gambling and working in a betting house, etc. Obviously, the logical thing is that, having a series of values, they are avoided at first some specific works that attack your beliefs head-on (like the examples seen), but sometimes economic needs make people, sadly, have to give up that agreement.
It may happen that a person receives a reasonably good salary, feels valued by those responsible, and does not have moral conflicts due to the tasks performed. However, your work may be especially tedious and monotonous, either due to the repetitive nature of the actions you have to perform, periods of very low workload that force you to spend a long time without doing anything in particular, or other situations. similar.
This monotony would be added to the list of causes of work demotivation. And it is that lack of variety in tasks, a work environment with no dynamism at all or having long periods in which, literally, there is no work to do, means boredom in the worker which translates, of course, into a more negative perception of their job, and therefore, of the motivation towards it.
6. Poor communication
The last of the causes of work demotivation is that which affects communication in the company, a key factor. It is possible that the worker sees most of the criteria that we have been seeing satisfied, but nevertheless has serious problems communicating with superiors The information you receive about your duties may be incomplete, contradictory, or, much worse, you may not even be provided with such information.
The problem can also arise in the other direction. Suppose that the worker observes an incident and tries to communicate it to those responsible, but there are no defined ways to do so, or he transmits it but does not receive any response. All of these situations can make the employee feel frustrated, isolated or that they do not have the necessary tools to correctly perform their duties, causing their motivation to be diminished.
