The article presents an overview of modern theoretical and practical approaches to the study of dissatisfaction with work and demotivation of staff, taking into account the increase in social pollution caused by the pandemic in unstable socio-economic conditions. Factors of dissatisfaction with the work of personnel and demotivation are differentiated, and it is shown that dissatisfaction can be associated with both a high level of motivation and demotivation. The interdependence of the factors of dissatisfaction with labor and demotivation is highlighted, which consists in the fact that the features of social pollution cause a stable state of dissatisfaction with labor and lead to psychological disadvantage, the development of the process of conscious demotivation by the employee, the loss of cooperation with colleagues and the tendency to change jobs. It has been established that the consequence of the pandemic, as well as the untimely or destructive actions of managers, is a sharp increase in the dissatisfaction of workers in various fields of activity with basic factors: pay and demand for the potential of the employee. The identification of similarities and differences in the factors of dissatisfaction with labor of employees of the general secondary education system, hotel business and management bodies of public associations of university students allowed the authors to attribute similar basic factors of dissatisfaction with labor to general factors of social pollution in pandemic conditions, and differences in factors of dissatisfaction with labor to destructive actions of the head, specifics of the sphere of activity, age characteristics of staff. At the same time, the analysis of the results of the study allowed the authors to conclude that dissatisfaction with labor, supported by cumulative factors of social pollution, can lead to a loss of the employee’s interest in the organization, a decrease in quality, labor performance and, as a result, a decrease in the quality of service for the consumer, especially in the studied areas of education, hotel business, public organizations and associations. Questionnaire, correlation analysis, content analysis, comparative data analysis was used as methods of investigation and analysis of the obtained results. The systematization and synthesis of the results of the comparative analysis of dissatisfaction with factors in various areas of work allowed the authors to identify technologies for preventing demotivation of labor that should be mastered by managers in conditions of socio-economic instability, and to develop recommendations for their application at the micro and macro levels in order to preserve personnel.