The article analyzes the factors and causes of the state of demotivation to work among employees of organizations. The author emphasizes the importance of employee motivation for the success of modern organizations and the undesirable consequences of its absence, which acquire the features of an organizational disease. Demotivation is considered by the authors as a decrease in motivation due to the influence of various circumstances. The factors that demotivate employees are analyzed and the probable causes of their occurrence are listed. The article highlights the personal and organizational groups of demotivation factors. Personal factors include chronic dissatisfaction with the dominant needs of employees; incentives used in organizations that become in reality limiting factors; changes occurring in the personal motivational complexes of employees; personal perception by employees of the actions of the organization’s managers as unfair. Organizational factors include unclear division of functions and implemented work processes between employees, unclear organization structure, low manageability of the organization, unclear goals, unreliability of decisions, widely used demotivating management style with a predominance of punishments over rewards, disrespect and neglect of employees. The article considers the employee’s motivational complex, consisting of internal motivation, external positive and external negative motivation, and determines the optimal motivational complex. Attention is paid to the demotivation process, the orientation of employee motivation. The differences in the general motivation of the employee for any actions and the labor motivation of the employee are determined. The necessity of analyzing the motives of people’s behavior in the working environment is emphasized. The article notes the need to distinguish between the real and declared motives of employees, to identify the deep needs, interests and values of people to prevent the state of demotivation.