Corporate employee needs to log in day sheets with the tasks he does, but he has nothing to do for most of the day and doesn't know how to pretend anymore: 'What am I supposed to log when I literally have nothing left to do? '

Author image for María Cetra
María Cetra • Writer
Jul 6, 2026 6:00 PM EDT

What to do when there's nothing to do. Sometimes pretending to work is harder than actually working.

​Lately I've been encountering a lot more stories on Reddit about this issue than I used to. This could be either because now it is something that people bring to the conversation and not just pretend, or because now it is more common with this AI and more intuitive systems. We know that traditional jobs are changing  A LOT. Everything has become easier to do, which is great for the most part, but it also means that fewer people are required to do a job. Before, it was usual to see more than two receptionists at a doctor's front desk. Now you are lucky if there's one. This is because of all the new systems they use that keep the information more accessible and make the workload smaller. There is no reason to have more than one employee for that job anymore.

This has also happened in the corporate world. A few decades ago, we had an employee who was in charge of only transferring the text written by hand to a typewriter. Nowadays, that feels completely dystopian with all the new technologies that allow you to even dictate to the computer. All the changes resulted in fewer jobs and fewer employees. The advancement has been even bigger in the last 5 years, that made the workloads of corporate employees even smaller, but if they say something, they would just fire someone. So now these employees are stuck pretending to be super busy so management and higher-ups don't realize that they can do their jobs in 2 hours instead of 9.

This can't run forever. Companies are going to notice the incredible shortage in workload. This can bring two possible futures. Either they start hiring employees to work only for a couple of hours a day, or they start having fewer and fewer employees till we are all completely replaced by robots.

 

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  • 01
    At my job I have to keep a day sheet that logs everything I do that day with times of how long I spent on each task. I have run into an issue where all of my tasks are caught up and I have maybe two hours worth of work to do until I get a new batch of tasks which doesn't happen until a few days after the first of each month. What am I supposed to log when I literally have nothing left to do? I don't want to go to my supervisor and be given a bunch
    via GamingRaccoon7
  • 02
    A notebook with a to-do list, a pen, and a marker.
    via My Profit Tutor

    A notebook with a to-do list, a pen, and a marker.

  • 03
    of extra work that is not part of my job. I also don't want to seem lazy and make it obvious that I don't have any work to do for the next few days. What do I do now?
    via GamingRaccoon7
  • 04
    Wakemeup3000 Are there training courses you can take? Policy and procedure guides you can review? My company is super into Al currently so I pop on a video on Al and let it run while I do other things.
    via GamingRaccoon7
  • 05
    LurkNoMoreNY When we worked remotely during co id & had to keep work logs - if I had nothing to do, I would list monitoring email/phones as a task.
    via GamingRaccoon7
  • 06
    MundaneHuckleberry58 Professional development - some YouTube videos, articles about how to do XYZ better. research or a podcast about the profession.
    via GamingRaccoon7
  • 07
    No_Function_7479 Review safety protocols, review/update procedures, work on annual review planning or updates. File past daily logs, create daily logs tracking list, analyze daily log tracking list, create dashboard of daily log data, create PowerPoint presentation to highlight different aspects of daily logs dashboard.
    via GamingRaccoon7
  • 08
    Visual representation of a computer processing data.
    via Riku Lu

    Visual representation of a computer processing data. 

  • 09
    Advanced-Method3325 Are there tutorials you could watch to add value to your job or obtain new skills?
    via GamingRaccoon7
  • 10
    CuriousPumpkin23 Educational material if your company provides it. Review code of conduct or employee handbooks. Organizing inbox. Organizing saved files. Organizing the physical office space. Auditing previous work. Not sure what kind of stuff can apply to your position
    via GamingRaccoon7
  • 11
    electric_mango_567 Pace yourself with what you're doing now.
    via GamingRaccoon7
  • 12
    Family_is_life_702 If you use Microsoft applications at your job, they have free video training sessions you can do to improve your skills there.
    via GamingRaccoon7
  • 13
    RazzmatazzOk2129 I had very good responses when I went up and asked for more work. And I don't mean just in the moment. They remembered that and I was promoted to a technical dept and given training. My entire career and life would have looked differently. My opinion was that I am being paid to work and be productive. If I have
    via GamingRaccoon7
  • 14
    completed absolutely everything possible at the best level, then I morally couldn't just sit there twiddling my thumbs on their dollar. But first I did all the tiny stuff. I cleaned my area, organized absolutely everything, put labels where it would help, replaced tags that were getting a bit worn. You know, all the odd little things that don't really need to be done, but everything looks better and
    via GamingRaccoon7
  • 15
    moves smoother when it is done. Then I went and asked for more, something that would take X time until I knew more work would drop on schedule.
    via GamingRaccoon7
  • 16
    Independent-Pea5131 Don't ever let on that you can do 8 hours of work in 6 hours. That being said, we really underestimate the amount of time it takes to read and answer emails, not to mention handle any "to do's" from the emails. Log that sh.
    via GamingRaccoon7
  • 17
    ChickVicious Process review - Reviewing your own completed work for accuracy, consistency, or compliance. This is real labor, and supervisors rarely question it. Documentation updates - Updating internal notes, checklists, SOPs, or reference sheets you rely on. Inbox and communication management - Organizing emails,
    via GamingRaccoon7
  • 18
    clearing outdated threads, preparing responses for future tasks. System maintenance - Cleaning up digital folders, renaming files, archiving old items, ensuring everything is easy to find. Professional development - Reading internal documentation, learning new features of your software, reviewing policies. - Future task preparation Setting up templates, pre-building forms, or
    via GamingRaccoon7
  • 19
    organizing materials you'll need when the next batch arrives. Quality assurance checks - Spot-checking past entries, verifying data accuracy, confirming nothing was missed. Workflow optimization - Identifying bottlenecks, reorganizing steps, or improving how you track tasks.
    via GamingRaccoon7
  • 20
    Bluebird Flies If you don't have one already, create a guide for how to do various tasks for your job. For so many companies, the only place that "how to" information is stored is in someone's head. When that person leaves, those processes are lost.
    via GamingRaccoon7
  • 21
    grey_canvas_ "organize and file" "Update technology" "Record retention review" "Create SOPs for cross training"
    via GamingRaccoon7

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nothing to do here Multitasking time management Office
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