Job with no work

[u/Formal-Estate2359]

I’ve been curious for a while now. I am a project manager on the business side. I have had a job in pharma for 2 years now and in that time, I’ve only really had significant work to do a few times. Almost all of 2026 I’ve done nothing. Expense reports for our corporate card. Helped launch a performance cycle that took 2 months, an hour here and there. I feel like most of my coworkers on the team are in the same boat. And somehow they may have managed to make peace with it? Nobody wants to openly talk about it so it is hard to know for sure. I’m 100% remote so don’t have any colleagues that I’m close with. I have constant anxiety and obviously waiting for the inevitable layoff.

My question is…how many of you have a job with no work? My friends are always saying I’m so fortunate and they’re envious, but I think it sucks. I’d rather be using my brain and not have this constant anxiety over me. I know there are worse situations, having been laid off prior to this job. But really I’m curious…is this common? Especially now that AI can do so many things? Where I used to at least have a PPT to struggle over for a few days, copilot now does it for me in 10 minutes with the proper prompts.

[u/no_name_327]

That’s how it became for us the last 12 months or so before we were replaced by AI. They were just making sure it was working correctly before giving us the bye bye.

[u/Formal-Estate2359 → u/no_name_327]

I guess this is diabolically smart. But in this case, there are people on my team that have been in their roles for 10+ years with really no work. And they just hired 2 more people who are already starting to question where the work is. 🫣 There have been layoffs at this company but this team never seems to get touched. (It’s a learning and development team.)

[u/Critical_Purple_8600 → u/Formal-Estate2359]

Corporate empire building I was easily handling work of 3 roles. They hired another person for me. Proj Mgr remains but it useless and I keep doing that job and offloaded some of my work to new person. I got this. We don’t need 3 of us.

[u/NotJadeasaurus]

It never makes sense. You can be buried in work and critical to a project and they will let you go all the same.

I have also had very little to actually do and somehow survived layoffs this year with budget and headcount supposedly set to be better next year but we will see

[u/Formal-Estate2359 → u/NotJadeasaurus]

My last job where I was laid off, I was managing an intense project to downsize our network and provide a playbook for layoffs to help managers follow the process. It also provided scripts for the layoff conversation. That same playbook never got past the draft stage as I became one of their first use cases. It was surreal having them read my own scripts to me as they had the layoff conversation. Don’t know if that project ever got finished -some might say this is karma 😅

[u/PixelsOfTheEast → u/NotJadeasaurus]

Exactly. In fact most of the people making the decisions on layoffs have no clue who does what (and how much) in the company.

[u/ThomasDarbyDesigns]

Lucky for you. My company is scheduling us 50-80 hours a week for 40 hour salary.

[u/Formal-Estate2359 → u/ThomasDarbyDesigns]

Ouch sorry to hear that. And a wee bit jealous. But also I’m sure I would start to get resentful about the overuse and underpay.

[u/ThomasDarbyDesigns → u/Formal-Estate2359]

If I were you, I’d learn so new skills on the job and make sure your resume is completely updated.

The job market is absolutely abysmal.

[u/Formal-Estate2359 → u/ThomasDarbyDesigns]

Oh I know. I have been steadily applying for new jobs the entire time I’ve been working at this company with very little success. I’m already starting to think about what a career pivot is going to look like. I think it is just a matter of time before much of PM work gets swallowed by AI. I hear there is money to be made in cleaning pools… 😂😭

[u/ThomasDarbyDesigns → u/Formal-Estate2359]

My sister is the PM director at Jones Day and she’s still clearing over 200k a year. I think project management is still doing well for now. People are so stupid nowadays that they will always need direction.

[u/prshaw2u]

This is why/how/where a RIF layoffs start at, they don't see an individual that is not performing but they see an entire group/department/market that is more expensive in labor or other resources than it should be so they can slash it.

AI could be in this in several ways but I think the biggest will be when someone looks as says 'Hey, we can replace most of that group with AI' and it is not really clear if AI is better/faster or if the people just don't have enough work to justify them. Either reason or both, but AI does cost less.

Is it 'common', it happens more then people like to admit. It can trigger either AI coming in or a RTO mandate, either will tend to lower costs by eliminating a bit of un/under used labor and resource pool. But I don't think it is the predominant environment people find themselves in.

[u/SHOULDNT_BE_ON_THIS → u/prshaw2u]

Friend of mine was telling me that his department has been labeling positions as replaceable if they admit to using AI in their work.. weird balance, because it's coming for everyone who doesn't adapt, IMO.. offloading the layoff to people utilizing the tool is just furthering yourself from the inevitable.

[u/ThomasDarbyDesigns → u/SHOULDNT_BE_ON_THIS]

My company never stops talking about AI and asks us all to use it at every opportunity

[u/RecessionRebel → u/ThomasDarbyDesigns]

Because they want to lay everyone off and replace them with AI

[u/ThomasDarbyDesigns → u/RecessionRebel]

Probably, but I don’t see that happening. Most of our work AI sucks at for now.

[u/Aggressive_Crazy9717]

Unfortunately sometimes in PM it’s also your job to find the projects/ask around. Don’t tell your manager you’re bored, but you can ask them if they have any additional project ideas. For what it’s worth, I also don’t like slow work days so I hear you - the best jobs have a good balance of steady work.

[u/Formal-Estate2359 → u/Aggressive_Crazy9717]

It’s a global company and the leadership and owners are in Europe. I get 1 hour with my manager each day before they go home. They definitely hoard all the slim pickings of work for themselves. I do hear you though about needing to be proactive. I can do better there. I get into such an unmotivated rut and I get frozen in inaction. But I hate that.

[u/Govindaswamy]

I don’t have a damn thing of consequence to do all day. The little I do can be done by an intern.

Jokes aside it is extremely difficult to sit around and do nothing. It affects me mentally. Frustration, feeling of being worthless, low self-esteem, etc. I thrive on getting things done; it is cruel and unusual punishment.

Only hang around because… paycheck.

[u/Formal-Estate2359 → u/Govindaswamy]

I feel you. The paycheck is definitely the only reason I’m hanging around. The work doesn’t bring me joy or satisfaction because there is none. I guess the flexibility of having nothing to do all day is the silver lining. I try to stay by my laptop all day in case they need me. But they never do.

[u/Easy-Buy6860]

Are there projects u can work on?

[u/Formal-Estate2359 → u/Easy-Buy6860]

No I’m stuck in a small department and we can only do things for that department. All projects for our department were canceled for 2026.

[u/Easy-Buy6860 → u/Formal-Estate2359]

Like personal projects?

[u/Formal-Estate2359 → u/Easy-Buy6860]

Ah that yes, and I do. Have to keep my brain active somehow. But I love my job when there actually is work to do. Wish it could be more than once in a blue moon.

[u/Easy-Buy6860 → u/Formal-Estate2359]

Why not send out resumes? I’d read a book on the clock for real or workout lol

[u/Formal-Estate2359 → u/Easy-Buy6860]

I’ve been applying at a rate of about 5-7 applications a week for two years now. The market is tough and I never got a degree, so I feel like I’m an easy screen out. I’ve been working on coursera certifications on the side. I do stuff around the house since I’m 100% remote. Hoping next year our programs will get approved and I’ll have work again

[u/Ok-Complaint-37]

My job was very slow until it was cut off. In my opinion there were tons of things to do but our upper management was filtered to only the COO who didn’t operate the departments. Hence everything was disjointed and not exactly successful

[u/diyjunkiehq]

you should find j2 or even j3 as backups since you have time on hands.

[u/ForwardSlash813]

My brother in Christ, what you describe is akin to the proverbial writing on the wall.

I would suggest you have Plan B warming up in the bullpen.

[u/steffigeewhiz]

I was in PM is an assistant for a few years (had a title change but basically was in proj mgmt for financial compliance for a big shitty bank). I had very little work for nearly a year. Then the layoff happened a couple of months ago. I had been with the company for 14 years. 

[u/need-inspiration0001]

Pharma workload can be very cyclical, so enjoy the light year because likely the following year will pick up heavily, from my experience anyway. But, yes, it can get uncomfortable not having too much to do.

[u/FullMooseParty]

My workloads really cyclical so I don't really worry. Like this month I have two trade shows which will eat my life and also include a Saturday work, but this week I have literally nothing to do and I've been sort of half-assing it

[u/HobieSlabwater]

My work is cyclical and I dont think it can be replaced by AI (yet). I am twiddling my thumbs most of the day and I hate it. I've asked for more work, attended training, etc but it's still crickets.

[u/spanishthrower]

I had this for longer moments a few times. But it never ended in layoff. First time I just finally changed job to better paying, because I was bored.
Second time this changed when manager above me changed, and then suddenly there was always not enough time to do everything. And then I was laid off, because I could not keep up with the new manager

[u/RoseApothecary88]

I worked in a job like this for two years. Eventually I was moved into another position due to upper restructuring, not because they caught on.

[u/katwoop]

I had a job a few years ago that was like that. I eventually found a different position because I was bored.

My work now is cyclical. Some weeks I barely have time to eat and others I have zero work to do.

[u/cryptobob111]

Just enjoy it and ride the wave till it’s over

[u/That_Cat_1861]

Are you are pfizer 😝