Consequences of low morale

In turn, low morale leads to the following:

• Lower productivity: Unmotivated developers are more likely to work slower, take longer breaks, and be less engaged in the business.
• Lower code quality: Development is a creative process—there is more than one way to implement a feature. Developers with low morale are unlikely to conjure up the willingness to figure out the best approach—they'll simply select for the approach that requires the least effort.
• High Turnover: Unhappy developers are going to be looking for better jobs, leading to a high turnover of staff for the company. This means the time invested to train the developer and integrate him/her into the team is wasted. Furthermore, it may cause other members of staff to lose confidence in the company, creating a snowball effect of people leaving.

Some managers may argue that the business is not responsible for the happiness of its developers—they pay them to produce work and value, not to be happy. Whilst this is true, an experienced project manager should remember that a development team is not a machine—it consists of people, each with their individual ambitions and emotions. Thus, the manager would be wise to consider the human costs of technical debt when making a business decision.