A very effective model at "pricing" the cost of what is called  Work Ethics Deficiency Syndrome (or WEDS) is called the Cost of the Status Quo.  

The Cost of the Status Quo examines the life cycle of an employee. In the 1st stage, an employee is generally Highly Motivated but Not Yet Competent.  Costs associated with Stage 1 employees include those associated with recruitment, selection and training.  Most managers agree with the costs to hire a new employee: from a low of ½ annual salary for entry level, low-skilled positions to multiples as high as 20 times annual salary for senior executive positions.

After some training and on-boarding, usually 3 to 6 months, the employee is acclimated to the job and moves on to the 2nd stage: Motivated and Competent. This is the most profitable and productive stage for both the employee and employer and where retention should be focused.

Unfortunately, many employees over time slide into a very high maintenance and less productive stage called Demotivated and Competent. These employees can be described as "retired on the job" and do just enough not to get fired. These unhappy employees require a lot of manager time which only adds to the cost and loss of productivity.  Worse than the effects of their individual unhappiness, they work hard to recruit other workers to join their "team." This creates a grass-roots effort to become "unemployed while still collecting a paycheck." 

If the employee stays in the Demotivated and Competent stage long enough, they eventually enter the end-stage of the employee life cycle: Demotivated and No Longer Competent.

These 3rd and 4th stages bear enormous costs to any business.  For instance, let's assume an organization has 100 employees and 30 percent of the employees are operating at only 70 percent of their potential.  

To determine the high cost, consider the following formula:          

1. Total number of positions in the organization =100
2. Number of unhappy employees performing at less then full potential = 30
3. Average monthly compensation for these unhappy employees = $4,000
4. Percentage of lost effectiveness = 30%
5. Estimated monthly cost of the unhappy employees = $84,000

At an average monthly compensation of $4,000, the Annual Cost for Doing Nothing is $1,008,000!!!

 The cost of employees becoming less "picky" about choosing a job is nearly irrelevant when you consider the hidden cost that the unhappy and not very productive employee carries in an organization.

A first step in stemming the high cost of the demotivated and unhappy employee begins with finding out if your organization has a problem or not.  The easiest way to do this is with an employee engagement survey.  The low-cost and high effectiveness of online employee morale surveys nips that contagion of WEDS from spreading.