How to motivate employees who don't care?

The first thing you should keep in mind, and what you probably already know, is that in this world there are people who are born demotivated, who are always complaining about everything and that when you have a conversation with them, they can absorb every last portion of the energy of your body. In these types of situations, it is very difficult to act, but we must bear in mind what the possible solutions are. The key is to dialogue with the worker to obtain as much information as possible about their dissatisfaction with the job.

How to motivate employees who don’t care?

Once we have all this information, before developing activities or proposals to motivate the worker, it is necessary to detect the main reason for their dissatisfaction and analyze if we can do something. Without solving this problem, all the actions that we carry out will be of no use.

It would be like pouring water into a bucket with a hole in the bottom. Our actions and proposals to motivate him would be the water that we are pouring into the bucket and his demotivation problem would be the hole at the bottom. Until we cover it (we solve the problem of its demotivation), the water will continue to flow.

When it comes to motivating employees, there are 3 levels:

The first one is the basic level. It consists of motivating workers to achieve the objectives and carry out their work in an appropriate way.
At the second level, you can get them to achieve the objectives and integrate them into the organization.
Finally, at the third level, you get enthusiasm in the worker and enormous satisfaction for yourself.

What can negative consequences have unmotivated employees have for my company?

Well, the consequences can be disastrous. On some occasions, demotivation on the part of employees can cause them to leave the company. This event causes an increase in turnover, which means a considerable increase in cost, and when you do the math, you see that it represents a significant percentage of the profit you have obtained.

We all know many cases of workers who are specialists in wasting time, doing just what is necessary, and not lifting a finger. This type of attitude in workers can lead to failure to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves or even cause (if we do bad management) that our good workers are also infected.

So we have to be very careful with the decisions we make with our workers since, if we provide the same to the bad worker as to the good one, the latter will be demotivated and will have a demotivating attitude. In these cases, what can help us is to make decisions based on meritocracy, something that is fair and that is usually well accepted by the whole group.

Appreciation vs recognition

The difference between the two terms is important to be clear about. The first, gratitude, occurs when a person does something for you and you thank them, that is, you reciprocate that gesture that they have had with you. First, you think about yourself and then about them. Nevertheless, recognition occurs by thinking of the other person first. After examining what the other person has done, you have decided to acknowledge the work they have done or their achievement. In addition, when you perform a sincere recognition, this action gives the recipient a brutal boost of energy.

Therefore, learn to recognize the work that both your colleagues and colleagues do and take advantage of every opportunity of the day to do it. Remember that motivation is not worked in one day, but it is a long process that takes a lot of work.