Aside from one or two meetings a day, I only have about 2–3 hours of actual work. Should I be concerned? I’m feeling worried that I might be expendable.

I hold a manager title at my company, where I focus on regulatory reporting. Since joining, I’ve automated most of the manual tasks in my role. My daily routine typically involves a 30-minute stand-up meeting and a one-hour end-of-day collaboration meeting with coworkers. Some days, there are occasional one-hour meetings as well.

Outside of these meetings, I only have about 2–3 hours of actual work. While I’m grateful not to be overwhelmed, I’m concerned that the worst-case scenario could be a layoff. My direct supervisor has suggested bringing on a junior associate to take on more of the workload. If the junior associate is onboarded, I would likely be left with very little work aside from supervising them and possibly contributing to ongoing projects.

As a principal in the department, I also sign off on customer approvals and certain tasks that only I can handle since I hold a specific license for these. Our company is expecting more projects this year, and although I’ve been involved in a few, they are moving slowly. Should I be worried about the relatively light workload and the potential impact of the junior associate being brought on?