The moment these employees knew it was time to quit

As an employer, the last thing you want is staff members dragging themselves into work reluctantly, dreading the day ahead of them.

Disengagement is a huge problem, especially in Asia and especially for new hires. (Fun fact: According to Sirota, the engagement and enthusiasm of new hires starts to disappear within six months of joining.)

And yet, many organisations aren't well-equipped to ensure their best people stay in the right frame of mind to do their job.

READ MORE: Want to engage Gen Y? Use common sense 

The lack of engagement was painfully obvious in this Reddit thread, which asked people, "What was the moment you realised you were unhappy with your job?"

The answers some people gave were sad and depressing, but they give us a real insight into exactly what goes on inside employees' heads right before they tell you they're moving on.

Have a read:

"When I started having panic attacks before going. Sunday nights were ruined."- Bingolicker

"3-4 months into the job, I realised I was lied to about my position. I did technician type of work (of which, I am overqualified for), my job description was not what I am currently doing and my teammates are the worst..."- vespr003

"I think the key factor is when you realise that if you could be fired on the spot, and you wouldn't argue at all."- SKQ62

"I cried when the doctor told me I didn't have glandular fever, meaning I had no excuse not to go to work the next day."- StrangeFarulf

"When I realised I was using bathroom breaks as a treat to get out of doing work for 5 minutes."- Mars04

"When I realised the check wasn't worth the people."- TheDerpedOne

"Most days I just think about how I could die any minute. Brain aneurism. Heart attack. Psychopath coworker. Plane falling out of the sky crashing through the roof onto the desk where I am currently sitting. So I try to think, could I say to myself  'At least I died where I wanted to be'? and the answer is always no."- sixteenmiles

"When I realised that the only thing that kept me going through the morning was looking forward to lunch and the only thing that kept me going through the afternoon was going home at 5:30. I don't hate my job, I'm just bored. It generally takes me 6-18 weeks to get bored of a job and I've been here for almost 5 years."- butwhatsmyname

"When I started being angry at mostly everything, work and non-work related."- Takashimmortal

"When I realised that I will never get a reward based on merit. The only rewards we get as employees are, and I quote, 'Thanks for all that you do for us'."- PapaBradford

READ MORE: When an employee quits, what should you say?

Image: Shutterstock