Boss gives longtime employee a fake promotion to ‘keep him around’, gives zero work for 6 weeks: ‘I’m sitting in an empty office with a fake job and a real paycheck'

Author image for Cata Holmes
Cata Holmes • Writer
Sep 23, 2026 12:30 PM EDT

Is getting paid to do nothing a dream job or a career nightmare?

Have you ever been in a job where you actually had nothing to do? How would you react? Is it a dream or a complete nightmare? These same questions are being asked by an employee who was recently fake-promoted. Yes, you read correctly. One random day, he had a meeting with his manager, and she told him that his role was being eliminated from the company. He panicked because he thought he was being laid off, but life had other plans for him…

Since the company "valued" his knowledge and wanted to keep him around, they created a new role with a fancy new title: "Senior Advisor, Strategic Initiatives". I mean… that sounds very interesting and probably a position that does require experience. He was excited, although he was going to make the same money. He asked her about his responsibilities, and she gave him a very vague answer: 'We'll figure that out together…'.

The first week came around, and nothing happened. Then the second, third, fourth… he ended up working for six weeks with nothing to do. While for some people this could be a dream, for others it is a complete nightmare! Having to commute to an office, sit there alone, with nothing to do, for the same amount of money feels awful to me.

His coworkers ask him what he's working on, and he feels embarrassed to say that there's nothing to be done… When he asks for work, his manager tells him to trust the process and that he needs to be more patient. But meanwhile, he's sat there with nothing to do… Now, there are two hypotheses as to why this is happening.

On one side, he's not sure if the company can't afford to fire him, so they are expecting him to quit, or if he essentially will have work in the long run and he needs to be more patient until things get settled… What would you do in a case like this? Would you stick around, or would you leave?

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  • The employee continues showing up and asking for work, but his manager keeps telling him to ‘be patient’.
    via Unsplash+ (via Vitaly Gariev)

    The employee continues showing up and asking for work, but his manager keeps telling him to 'be patient'.

    Not actual story subjects.

  • I've been at this company for four years. Senior individual contributor, deep expertise, the person people come to when something breaks and nobody knows why.
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  • Six weeks ago, my manager called me into a meeting with HR. She said my role was being "restructured" and that they had a new position for me: "Senior Advisor, Strategic Initiatives." Sounds fancy. In practice, it's a
    via Gullible-Cod-9387
  • role she invented two days before the meeting. No team. No budget. No clear deliverables. Just me, reporting to her, with the same salary and the same title on paper.
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  • She framed it as a promotion- adjacent move. "We value your institutional knowledge." "We want to keep you in the organization." "This gives you more flexibility."
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  • I asked what the actual responsibilities were. She said, "We'll figure that out together."
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  • That was six weeks ago. Since then, I've been assigned exactly zero strategic initiatives. My old projects were reassigned to a new hire. My calendar is empty. I show up, I ask for work, I get told to "be patient" and "trust the process."
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  • Meanwhile, my colleagues keep asking what I'm working on. I don't have an answer. It's humiliating.
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  • I can't tell if this is a soft demotion designed to make me quit, or if she genuinely panicked when I raised concerns about my old role and invented something to placate me without actually doing anything. Either way, I'm
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  • sitting in an empty office with a fake job and a real paycheck, wondering how long this can last before someone above her notices.
    via Gullible-Cod-9387
  • Has anyone been "kept" like this? Is this a quiet firing, or just managerial incompetence? And do I ride it out and collect the check, or is this the kind of thing that looks career-ending the longer it drags on?
    via Gullible-Cod-9387
  • Six weeks into his new position, the employee is left with an empty calendar after his former projects were reassigned to a new hire.
    via Unsplash+ (via Vitaly Gariev)

    Six weeks into his new position, the employee is left with an empty calendar after his former projects were reassigned to a new hire.

    Stock photo unrelated.

  • DataZigZager Leverage the situation. Either spend the free time upskilling, networking, or looking for a new job. And/or, look into doing some contracting on the side.
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  • LoopyMercutio Basically, she couldn't afford to lose you, had to figure out some way to keep you around and vaguely happy until she could find a spot, so she did what she could on the fly. Wait it out and see what they come up with.
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  • Living-Stuff4000 I have been there. In my case, I'm a professional problem solver. It took a while, but finally moved into an actual role. I don't think they can afford to lose you. You are a cheap insurance policy. Like firemen, they aren't always putting out fires.
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  • Feeling_Trip_5413 Sounds like you have plenty of time to hunt for a new job.
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  • allieoops925 Personally, I think it's fabulous that she's doing anything she can to keep you. It may take a while to find the actual role, but if you have faith in her, give her the time. If it's not OK with you then use this time to find another position.
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  • nontradpart2 I can't say I've ever had a role created for me like this, but if I'm reading the facts rights, I've spent most of my career in this role. I don't understand why you are so upset.
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  • The longtime employee sits at his desk after being moved into a newly created “Senior Advisor” role with the same salary but no clear responsibilities.
    via Unsplash+ (via Vitaly Gariev)

    The longtime employee sits at his desk after being moved into a newly created "Senior Advisor" role with the same salary but no clear responsibilities.

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • TummyWave why does every post sounds Al generated these days? Same tone, same style. Karma farming?
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  • GolfGuy_824 So it sounds to me like the company was going to lay you off and replace you in your former role with a lower cost new hire and instead of letting that happen she created a position to keep you around because she values you.
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  • illcrx Based on what you said, take your boss at her word.!
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  • Hotel Disastrous288 Fake job with real paycheck. That is the dream. Ride it out as long as possible. As for higher ups finding out your manager will cover this up forever.
    via Gullible-Cod-9387

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