SINGAPORE: More than we care to admit, our colleagues play a big role in why we choose to stick around in our jobs. They can either create a challenging environment that pushes us to quit or help make the workplace tolerable, even when things get toxic.

For one Singaporean man, it’s the latter. After his entire team, which he had built for the last two years, was wiped out during a company reorganization, he took to r/SgHENRY, a Reddit forum, to express that he had lost the motivation to continue working.

In his post, he shared that, despite earning a decent salary, he still feels disheartened. To make matters worse, he now has to report to someone who is not based in Singapore and lacks experience working in Asia.

He also mentioned that arranging a strategic meeting with the new manager has proven difficult, and that the early indications of his manager’s plans do not align with what he believes would be suitable for the Asian markets.

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“I’ve sent feelers to my network out but the market is bad right now; was approached for a c-suite role recently but that didn’t go anywhere,” he said.

“I’m on the sell side, and the other approaches are from my competitors, which I have little interest as I am thinking to go to the buy side.”

As he reflects on his career in his mid-40s, he feels a growing concern that he may have reached his peak.

“Financially, I have commitments (house) but I can manage it and have passive income of 28k – 35k PA to cover living expense in the short term,” he wrote.

“[Should I] leave and take a break? The only reason I haven’t tendered is I’m grateful to my current boss and wanted to help sort out the current reorg.”

“Try to quiet quit while you gather your thoughts and decide on your next move.”

In the comments section, several Singaporean Redditors advised him to remain in his position until he finds something more suitable.

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One Redditor pointed out, “It’ll be harder to get back into the job market with a gap at this age. Since you said that you can accept the situation that the work has not evolved much, why don’t you stay till you find something?

As your manager does not sit in the same office as you, that is actually a good thing.”

Another commented, “As you already know, the job market is bad now. If you were to take a break, you would most likely be self-fulfilling the prophecy of having peaked.”

Meanwhile, others advised him to ‘quiet quit’—a phrase that refers to doing the bare minimum at work—while he looks for a new job opportunity.

One Redditor said, “Try to quiet quit while you gather your thoughts and decide on your next move. You will likely miss out on a good retrenchment bonus when the time comes and 28-35k pa passive income is a bit on the low side.”

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Still, there were a few who empathized with his situation and urged him to take a break. One Redditor expressed, “Take a break, the way to look at it is you have to get out of a bad situation so that you are available to get into a good situation. No need to be so risk averse. Time wasted in bad places are the worst, don’t spend an extra day there.”

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