Consequences of demotivated employees in the workplace

 Consequences of demotivated employees in the workplace

Figure 1: Consequences of employee demotivation (Menda, 2020)

Reduced organizational productivity

Reduction of productivity is one of the major adverse effects of demotivated employees (Ng et al., 2004). Without the motivation to carry out the tasks they are assigned to, employees may turn in their work past the deadlines and submit low-quality work to the clients which can cause risks to the business. Productivity is measured both qualitatively and quantitively in a workplace (Frost and Brockmann, 2014). Lower productivity resulting in a lower quantity of work can result in reduced aggregate output. Reduced quality often results in customer complaints and dissatisfaction which reflects negatively on the institution.

Unproductive workforce

An institution cannot move forward without a hardworking and motivated workforce. Hence, an unproductive workforce is detrimental to the company (Boye Kuranchie-Mensah and Amponsah-Tawiah, 2016). Employee productivity is often used as a benchmark during the evaluation of employees. However, employee productivity is directly related to the strategies of increasing employee motivation. Employee productivity directly affects the income and loss of the organization. Therefore, the unproductive workforce resulting from the lack of motivation can negatively affect the company income.

Key employees leave

Hardworking and high-performing people like to be surrounded by a similar crowd that influences them positively (Roffey, 2016). However, unmotivated employees can sometimes pass on their uncompleted work to other better performing employees, loading them with more work and more stress. The resulting unbalance in the workload can compel the excelling employees to leave the workplace as the unengaged employees are expecting to ride on their coattails. This can result in the key employees looking for other job opportunities and eventually leaving the company (Vnoučková and Klupáková, 2013). The result is a workplace filled with an unproductive workforce.

Absenteeism and lateness

Absenteeism and lateness to report to work are major problems faced by many organizations. It has been reported that absenteeism causes a loss of around $225.8 billion per year in the United States (Stinson, 2015). Workers can be absent from work due to many reasons which are out of their control such as family emergencies, unexpected accidents, bad weather conditions, illnesses etc (Fernando, Caputi and Ashbury, 2017). However, absence and lateness resulting from the reluctance to go to work is a serious problem. If a certain employee is being absent on a regular basis, then it’s an issue of concern that should be investigated. 

Motivated absenteeism can result in the increase of absence and lateness of employees and seriously affect their productiveness (Nicholson, 2007). Under this concept, employees willingly come to work depending on their motivation level. A highly motivated employee would be eager to go to work, whereas a demotivated employee would look for any possible reason to avoid coming to work.

Waste of time, money, and resources

An employee who is demotivated will take more and more time to complete a certain task (Hanaysha, 2016). For instance, a demotivated employee would take four or five hours to complete a task which they could complete within two hours previously. With increasing demotivation, the time taken to complete the tasks will increase, resulting in the loss of valuable money and resources of the organization. Demotivated employees waste time in numerous ways, will not let others work effectively, and would excessively consume organizational resources.

Disappearance of employee input

Employees are the most important part of an organization, and their input is highly significant in increasing the organizational performance (Chadi, Jeworrek and Mertins, 2017). Employee input can lead to innovations, new ideals, positive momentum, and encouraging atmosphere. However, no one wants to make positive suggestions and provide valuable input if they feel unconnected and unwanted by their organization. Motivation is the main factor which strengthens the connection between the employer and employees and the lack of motivation will reduce or completely eliminate the provision of employee input.

Negative word of mouth

Top management and customers of the organization often weigh the positive word of mouth as it holds great significance over the company’s image (Uen et al., 2011). Demotivated employees in the workforce will cause negative reviews about the organization to pop up primarily as a result of their poor-quality work. This can even become negative word of mouth regarding the work environment (Harris and Ogbonna, 2012). 

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” – Warren Buffet

 

References

Boye Kuranchie-Mensah, E. and Amponsah-Tawiah, K. (2016) ‘Employee motivation and work performance: A comparative study of mining companies in Ghana’, Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, 9(2), p. 255. doi: 10.3926/jiem.1530.

Chadi, A., Jeworrek, S. and Mertins, V. (2017) ‘When the Meaning of Work Has Disappeared: Experimental Evidence on Employees’ Performance and Emotions’, Management Science, 63(6), pp. 1696–1707. doi: 10.1287/mnsc.2016.2426.

Fernando, M., Caputi, P. and Ashbury, F. (2017) ‘Impact on Employee Productivity From Presenteeism and Absenteeism’, Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, 59(7), pp. 691–696. doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000001060.

Frost, J. and Brockmann, J. (2014) ‘When qualitative productivity is equated with quantitative productivity: scholars caught in a performance paradox’, Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 17(S6), pp. 25–45. doi: 10.1007/s11618-014-0572-8.

Hanaysha, J. (2016) ‘Improving employee productivity through work engagement: Evidence from higher education sector’, Management Science Letters, pp. 61–70. doi: 10.5267/j.msl.2015.11.006.

Harris, L. C. and Ogbonna, E. (2012) ‘Forms of employee negative word‐of‐mouth: a study of front‐line workers’, Employee Relations, 35(1), pp. 39–60. doi: 10.1108/01425451311279401.

Menda, P. B. (2020) ‘Critical Analysis of Teacher Motivation Policy in Schools in the Democratic Republic  of Congo’, Global Journal of Management and Business Research: A Administration and Management, 20(2).

Ng, S. T., Skitmore, R. M., Lam, K. C. and Poon, A. W. C. (2004) ‘Demotivating factors influencing the productivity of civil engineering projects’, International Journal of Project Management, 22(2), pp. 139–146. doi: 10.1016/S0263-7863(03)00061-9.

Nicholson, N. (2007) ‘Absence behavior and attendance motivation: A conceptual synthesis’, Journal of Management Studies, 14(3), pp. 231–252. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.1977.tb00364.x.

Roffey, S. (2016) ‘Positive Relationships at Work’, in The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of Positivity and Strengths&;#x02010;Based Approaches at Work. Chichester, UK: John Wiley &;#38; Sons, Ltd, pp. 171–190. doi: 10.1002/9781118977620.ch11.

Stinson, C. (2015) Worker Illness and Injury Costs U.S. Employers $225.8 Billion Annually, CDC Foundation.

Uen, J. F., Peng, S.-P., Chen, S.-Y. and Chien, S. H. (2011) ‘The Impact of Word of Mouth on Organizational Attractiveness ’, Asia Pacific Management Review, 16(3), pp. 239–253.

Vnoučková, L. and Klupáková, H. (2013) ‘Impact of motivation principles on employee turnover’, Ekonomická revue - Central European Review of Economic Issues, 16(2), pp. 79–92. doi: 10.7327/cerei.2013.06.03.