I tell them we'll see if their opinion changes upon life reflection while in their final hospital bed.
I could go home, watch TV, sweat, and listen for the mice getting into my ramen and oatmeal, or I could stay at work and maybe help do something cool that the CEO could sell to investors.
I pretty much stopped the instant I made a new friend in my new city. That person got me to buy a window AC unit, and keep restaurant reservations, and go to movie theaters, and move to an apartment with fewer freeloading rodents in it.
So you could probably also alleviate their suffering by giving them a reason to leave work at quitting time, and keeping them out long enough to discourage going back.
Nowadays, I only need about 75% of a half-baked, tissue-thin reason to not be at work, to want to leave the office early.