Companies are spending so much money trying to inspire employees that they have created an industry: the motivation industry. Trouble is, there has been exhaustive academic research trying to find out what motivate workers, and it has turned up almost no evidence that motivational spending makes any difference.
Some companies, including General Electric, have given up on the unmotivated "A company that bets its future on its people must remove that lower 10%, and keep removing it every year.” CEO Jack Welch writes in GE's annual letter to shareholders. That policy is also employed by others, including Microsoft and Sun Microsystems.