Remote employee automates all daily tasks and does nothing all day while manager praises their work: 'Every once in a while, I panic that my manager will notice'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Aug 29, 2025 8:00 AM EDT

This new hire thought she was in for a challenging, fast-paced workplace environment. It turns out that she was hired to do absolutely nothing all day.

Of course, that's not entirely the case. The author clearly possesses a natural level of productivity and efficiency that is significantly higher than that of her peers at work. She figured out quickly how to automate certain tasks and how to schedule daily emails and messages for the end of the day to give off the appearance that she was working the full eight hours each day. 

Instead, she found herself with more free time on her hands than when she was unemployed. She took up hobbies, from cooking to decorating, but after a while, the guilt started to sink in. It was beginning to weigh on her that everyone around her was working hard and she managed to get away with doing the bare minimum. 

For a moment, she assumed that when layoffs were happening, she would be on the chopping block. However, her manager pulled her aside instead to thank her for her incredible contributions to the company. Somehow, she became invaluable there. As several members of the online community noted, this author has walked into a dream job. We are in agreement that there is absolutely nothing to feel guilty about! After all, it's management's fault for not realizing how easy her tasks and responsibilities are. If they can't see that, then the author's choice not to go "above and beyond" is on them.

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  • "I work from home and do almost nothing. Could I get fired for this?"

    Young woman in jeans and a blue shirt sits on the floor with her laptop at home.
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    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • One thing several members of the online community pointed out is that this author could use this opportunity to find supplemental income if she so desires. Obviously, if she is comfortable with the salary she is making and has no desire to find extra work, she doesn't need to. However, it does seem like there is no better opportunity to do two things at once than in this particular job.

  • About a year ago, I got a fully remote job as a project coordinator at an MNC. The interview process was very difficult behavioral rounds, a - case study, and a final interview
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  • where I had to explain how I would manage several projects at the same time. This made me feel that the job was fast-paced and involved a lot of activity, which scared me a bit.
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  • But today, I'm sitting in my house at 10:30 in the morning, drinking my coffee and looking at my calendar, and I realize that I have... nothing urgent to do. Again.
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  • The first month was hectic. I set up the project timelines, created dashboards for tracking, and streamlined the way our team updates weekly reports. My manager was impressed and told me I was a "genius" for creating automated reminders for overdue items.
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  • After that, things calmed down. Once that initial setup was done, my daily work decreased and became a matter of a few emails, occasional meetings, and a few "urgent" requests.
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  • In meetings, I'm almost completely zoned out. I suggest to people that they start using Al (granola) to summarize the meeting and come up with action items. My 50-year-old director told me I was a "techie" for doing that. Dude, I don't even like technology that much.
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  • Last week, my manager asked me if I remembered a decision we made two months ago - I typed a keyword into the second brain setup I have (saner) and got her the answer instantly. Then she asked me if I have a "photographic memory." Lady, I don't even remember my friends' birthdays.
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  • Most of my time now is spent making it look like I'm busy. I leave a GDoc page with lots of details open during any Zoom call so it looks like I'm working myself to death.
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  • I schedule messages on Slack to be sent at the end of the day, even though I finish them in about... 20 minutes, for example. Sometimes I feel guilty because of how little I actually do.
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  • I've started new hobbies. I learned to make fresh pasta. I started decorating my house. I've read more books this year than I did in the last two years combined.
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  • Every once in a while, I panic that my manager will notice and fire me in this wave of silent layoffs that's happening, but last week she told me I'm doing "fantastic work and keeping everything running smoothly." So... I'll probably just keep doing what I'm doing? Is this normal? Should I keep going like this?
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  • Young woman in jeans and a blue shirt lies down on the sofa with her phone in her hand.
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    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • cactusflinthead · 23h ago Don't f with a win streak
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  • Yankeesrule0864 22h ago Don't overthink this. You look like a genius. Keep it up.
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  • Sammakko660·22h ago Time to start writing a novel. You can be typing/writing constantly and it looks like you are working.
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  • Observer422 • 19h ago I was like that for the first year of a job. Completely bored out of my mind at the office with barely anything to do.
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  • I never said anything out of fear of being fired for being useless and Im glad I didnt because its rare these days for me to have nothing to do and its actually more common for me to absolutely swamped.
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  • My point is: it will pick up eventually. They just havent figured out what work to give you yet.
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work from home workplace-stories remote work employee work stories toxic-workplace job work company job interview interview toxic-work-environment
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