Most employees don't want to sit at their desks bored, mindlessly sift through their work and punch out when it's time to go home. Especially in today's competitive work environment, employees are looking for positions that are challenging, and when that need is not met, employees often become disengaged, says Sheryl Kovach, president and CEO of Kandor Group, a human resources consulting firm in Houston. Not only can this hurt retention levels but it can also impact the corporate culture as a whole.

"When employees don't feel challenged, they tend to get bored, and when employees get bored, generally, their motivation levels decrease," Kovach says. "Their degree of overall commitment toward the organization begins to suffer. Symptoms of boredom are decreased motivation and commitment, an increase in errors, lack of an optimistic attitude, increased absenteeism and even increased turnover. When these types of symptoms are manifested in an organization, they're contagious. Others start to see and feel the effect of that attitude."

The top performers at a company are especially prone to feeling unchallenged in their roles, Kovach says. Generally, top performers excel quickly and have go-getter attitudes. With that kind of motivation, high performers have to be stimulated constantly in order to operate at such efficient levels.