Because prices/inflation rise past a reasonable level. People work to own things; cars, homes, atvs, luxury items. When the affordability of those items drop the motivation of employees also drops. When you have to work at a company for 50 years and spend no money to be able to afford the house you want you realize wtf am I working my ass off for something I’ll never be able to get. Depression, is also on the rise as productivity falls. You can have all the pizza parties and retention programs you want, but none of that shit pays the bills or actually helps anyone.

Same thing with trip incentives. Total bullshit. Why tf would I want to go on a trip for 2 when there are 4 people in my fam and I’d have to pay for 2 more tickets I can’t afford anyway bc the fucking company doesn’t pay you enough to afford a vacation.

Speaking for myself, if you want to see productivity go up, then the paycheck needs to rise beside inflation. I’d never leave a job that allows me to live comfortably and gives my the luxury of not having to worry about money/living paycheck to paycheck.

Paycheck to paycheck results in low motivation, low efficiency, low effort, low retention, bad reviews, bad working environments.

Nobody trusts their bosses after a bunch of people were unceremoniously laid off recently and a bunch of other people were forced to work in highly dangerous conditions as ‘essential workers’ during the past 3 years. Promises were made and then broken around WFH, further eroding trust. Debilitating contagious disease are still rampant, and understanding previously extended to workers for COVID is no longer there, and more people have to work sick. Cost of living has increased, and despite much of the macro data, many people’s wages have not kept up. I believe most of the factors around low motivation and productivity are a combination of poor health and declining life expectancy, material financial conditions, and betrayal from promises made by employers.

firstly inflation has outstripped pay increases for years.

next, work from home made people realise that the 2hours a day they spend travelling could be put to better use.

ultimately companies expect a lot from workers, and workers aren’t sufficiently compensated to make it worthwhile.

theres sufficient data to show that the additional free time work from home brings, is almost worth like 30%+ pay increase - but ultimately companies neither want to pay 30% more, nor give a couple of days work from home.

and no amount of free pizza or happy hours is going to off set that.

Not being able to accumulate any meaningful savings because pay is so low compared to the cost of everything is certainly a factor.

Also having clowns in the chain of command with no people skills that make your life harder for no noticeable gain.

Idk if it’s just tech or every sector but managers in tech are trash at their jobs.