Management is cutting my job after I automated 15 hours of weekly work, do I have to document it for them?

[u/Claptrap_5Z]

When I took this coordinator job, our team was losing fifteen to twenty hours every week just updating client logs and manually formatting spreadsheets.

I built a few simple macros and formula templates that cut all that data entry down to an hour. I thought saving twenty hours a week would free me up for higher-level projects.

instead, my manager called me into a meeting last Friday. She told me that because our administrative workload dropped, they are merging my role with a part-time position and letting me go. To get my severance check, they want me to write step-by-step documentation for every macro I set up.

I literally worked myself out of a salary. I should of just kept doing the data entry by hand like the last person.

Do I ACTUALLY have to document processes I created that were not in my original job description?

[u/Claptrap_5Z]

Good point, my manager definitely cant read code so I can keep the docs super high level without worrying about them checking the actual steps.

[u/Cainga → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Delete any comments.

[u/Mote_Of_Plight → u/Cainga]

Malicious compliance is the way

[u/TheKaptinKirk → u/Mote_Of_Plight]

I always rely on a few manual inputs. My job isn't to push buttons. It's knowing which button to push.

[u/Ok-Addition-1000 → u/TheKaptinKirk]

This applies to so many jobs. You're not paid for the short time it takes to do the thing, you're paid for the years it took you to learn how do the thing in a short time.

[u/delicate-fn-flower → u/Ok-Addition-1000]

Yup. That’s the mechanics dilemma of why it costs so much. It’s $1 for the part, and $99 for the knowledge of what that part does. Knowing when to concede your skill level to others is such a mark of maturity.

[u/Leftieswillrule → u/Ok-Addition-1000]

Same thing with the relationships you build over your time spent working in a field. Sometimes you get paid for who is willing to pick up the phone when you call. Turn five emails and 3 meetings over 4 weeks into a 15 minute chat.

[u/Righteousaffair999 → u/TheKaptinKirk]

The most George Jetson comment ever.

[u/screaminginfidels → u/Righteousaffair999]

Or Homer Simpson, but there's only one button that says DO NOT PUSH.

[u/Independent-Hurry618 → u/TheKaptinKirk]

this is super smart.

[u/vr0202 → u/TheKaptinKirk]

Like the story about the mechanic telling the customer that the charges were not for the five minutes it took to turn the screw, but for knowing which screw to turn.

[u/followyourvalues → u/vr0202]

I have been very lucky with nice mechanics, then! Haha

Once spent a week trying to figure out why my car would not start after replacing the alternator. The mechanic I got it to moved a wire and when he called to tell me and I asked how much I owed him --> he said, "How about free?!"

Thanks mechanic man!

[u/Scary_Dot6604 → u/Mote_Of_Plight]

MC by removing comments or changing code is a good way to get sued

[u/Low_Excitement_1715 → u/Cainga]

##// Comment: TODO: ADD_COMMENT

[u/Special_Capital_8281 → u/Cainga]

They aren't deleting comments. They are cleaning the code base and moving comments to an external document. It's not their fault they were rushed in this last task before being let go, distracted by the thoughts of finding new employment.

It's no wonder so many important things were missed and/or forgotten.

People make mistakes in a normal work day, let alone being forced out.... cough

[u/Silent_Wave3137 → u/Cainga]

And rename all functions and variables random strings

[u/Plastic_Wrap_1353 → u/Silent_Wave3137]

And make them password protected so no errors can creep in. And make them self-destruct after 30 days.

[u/AlphonseLoeher → u/Plastic_Wrap_1353]

That's crossing the line to being illegal

[u/LaFlibuste → u/Cainga]

And remove all indentation.

[u/puts_on_SCP3197 → u/Cainga]

“The code documents itself.”

[u/ffball → u/Cainga]

If youre automating your own work flows you should never even comment it imo

[u/JohnHazardWandering → u/Cainga]

No, that could be considered destruction of company intellectual property if they somehow can see the changes. Just update the comments with useless side comments that may or may not be red herrings and vaguely reference other relevant things so it's really difficult to understand without a deep understanding. 

For example: '#critical! Make sure the input for this function is in the proper format or it might delete information in the source or target. 

[u/i_am_soooo_screwed → u/Cainga]

And delete any indentations or formatting for readability.

Still remember that one kid in high school who out of malicious compliance, wrote his whole program on one line.  Long ass line tho.  Been 3 decades but I still remember that shit.

[u/Silverfox4Wives → u/Cainga]

I second this!

[u/manly_ → u/Cainga]

It’s far better to ask ai to replace comments with inaccurate ones

[u/Illustrious-Bee9056 → u/Cainga]

mangle/mis-name variables, to the point even claude would spin the wheels

can you scramble some of the code, such that it requires a specific username or process name to decrypt? you know that one username/process only you know and run on your machine…

[u/AlfredoCheeseSauce → u/Claptrap_5Z]

you should feed them into AI and make them as insanely complicated and wordy as you possibly can lol

[u/mathimati → u/AlfredoCheeseSauce]

Or just minify/obfuscate the code for “efficiency”, but making it near impossible to edit in the future. Maybe hardcode a bunch of references that don’t need to be hardcoded. Or reverse that and make a bunch of hardcoded references into offsets. Whichever one makes it more obnoxious.

[u/MortCrimm → u/mathimati]

Add local file path references where the "calculations" are. They wont know why it doesnt work on their computer and if they change file locations, it breaks...

[u/kindofanasshole17 → u/MortCrimm]

For dealing with a group of users with minimal Excel skills this is actually kind of genius.

Sounds like OP has enough coding skills they could even step it up a notch, burying a reference or two in macro code, maybe breaking up the path into multiple parts and doing some weird string manipulation. Lot of possibilities.

[u/MortCrimm → u/kindofanasshole17]

I am well versed in dealing with idiots who "use excel professionally".....Or as they refer to it "The Database"

[u/ABenGrimmReminder → u/MortCrimm]

Professional Co-Pilot askers.

[u/Boring_Holiday9874 → u/mathimati]

Minify can be undone easily using AI. 

[u/topturo77 → u/Boring_Holiday9874]

Hide some instructions in there somewhere that makes whatever AI they feed it into output incorrect simplified instructions. These people think Excel is dark magic, they won’t ever be able to catch that. 

[u/Nimos → u/mathimati]

overall usefulness of AI for code aside, de-obfuscating minified code is something that it does really well. Even puts in sensible names for symbols most of the time.

[u/numbersthen0987431 → u/mathimati]

I'd just make the code unusable, so they have to go back to the old way of doing it

[u/Aflockofants → u/mathimati]

Let’s not pretend it wasn’t AI that did it in the first place.

[u/Minimum_Possibility6 → u/mathimati]

You can fragment the code so it calls another parcel of the code, but do it by calling a sheet and pulling the block from there. 

What you do is spread the sheets around all sorts of different locations 

Naturally the next person will likely want to optimise it by putting them all in one folder ,

Which will invariably break it 

[u/mydaycake → u/AlfredoCheeseSauce]

This, don’t spend your time on it, OP. Don’t tell them but just write them with AI and add to the prompt for advanced excel and macro users, dont over explain it

[u/kummerspect → u/Claptrap_5Z]

People who don't regularly work with excel don't get macros. I have one that I use at work that I've tried to get other people to use and they can't even comprehend how to get to the macro to run it. You could write the most clear instructions and it still won't make sense to them. Plus macros break, and they're going to regret getting rid of the person who created them.

[u/SadTaco12345 → u/kummerspect]

I'm pretty decent with VBA but I absolutely HATE having to read someone else's code to fix a problem. It takes like 5 times as long to find the problem in the first place, nevermind actually fixing it.

I was asked to fix one on Friday...I opened it up and...no comments. Variables declared were literally just single letters, A to Z. A is the filename we extract from, B is the number of records, C is the file path we export the results to...

I logged off for the day. But yeah that point you made at the end there is never understood by management. They think we're all wizards who use the same exact syntax and methods, and can easily fix someone else's code.

[u/crybannanna → u/kummerspect]

I wrote macros for an old job years ago. I am in the same company, but totally different role now. About once a year I get an email about something breaking. Usually it’s user error, but they forget some of the conditions needed (like words need to match and junk). It’s often an entirely different person contacting me, because the job it automated is done by someone new. I put my name in the complete message as a gag back then, something like “I’m the best!!! Don’t forget to thank me for being awesome!” Did it specifically for the guy I gave it to to take over my job, who I was cool with. Seems it paid off having that since they use it to reach out to me.

[u/NabelasGoldenCane → u/Claptrap_5Z]

100% of the time when ppl document their jobs upon leaving, zero people read it. Just yadda yadda that shit.

I’m sorry it happened to you. It proves the point that companies AIM to be understaffed. You were over capacity, fixed the capacity problem, so they made you over capacity again. They want everyone to panicking and working unpaid OT as a goal.

[u/Chambahz → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Can you modify the code so that each week/month it adds some small error, getting worse and worse as time goes by?

[u/Poultrymancer → u/Chambahz]

Don't do this. 

You don't have to give them work product, but intentionally sabotaging their operations in a clearly documented fashion (it's not like the code is going to self-destruct after fucking over the employer; it will be examined in discovery) is going to create possible civil and/or criminal liability 

[u/Salt-Cattle-5314 → u/Poultrymancer]

This. They can't actually legally keep any money owed to you for not providing the handoff doc. Be unhelpful not criminal.

[u/mathimati → u/Poultrymancer]

They would have to prove it was malicious and not careless. And damn, I just lost my job, I just couldn’t focus and clearly made a careless error while I thought I was fixing something I discovered while working on the documentation. Whoops!

[u/Imaginary_Office1749 → u/Poultrymancer]

Not to mention it’s just bad jujitsu.

[u/The_Endless_ → u/Imaginary_Office1749]

Whether or not this was intentional joke, it got me good

[u/Development-Feisty → u/Poultrymancer]

And that’s why they shouldn’t be giving it to them at all because if they did make a mistake, they can be blamed saying it was malicious. Since this was not part of their job description and they are no longer working for the company it is a bad idea to give them the process or show them how to use it since that was not part of their original job description and any mistakes they make when trying to show how to use it can be blamed on them as malicious

[u/-_-______-_-___8 → u/Poultrymancer]

Only if it’s intentional

[u/No_Gas4560 → u/Poultrymancer]

mistakes happen. woops did i delete the whole line, not just the comment?

hmm can't recall, i'm thinking about finding a job

[u/SirGeremiah → u/Chambahz]

It’s easier to incorporate one or two manual input points in the code. Explain those inputs in the documentation in a way that makes perfect sense, but only if you already know what is needed. Do the same with all descriptions of what has to be done. If a column is labeled one way, but could be called something different, use that alternate description in the documentation.

[u/Ranchcountry0 → u/Claptrap_5Z]

I think this is your best option. Also, I’d remove any comments. Business needs change and at some point they’re going to want to update that code. 

Don’t make it easy. And be considering your hourly rate if they need help. 

[u/Fickle_Finger2974 → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Do not give them any documentation. Why would you?

[u/PierreTheTRex → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

To get the severance

[u/Fickle_Finger2974 → u/PierreTheTRex]

There is no way it’s a good package. File for unemployment

[u/PierreTheTRex → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

I'm not familiar with the US system, but surely getting severance doesn't stop you from filing for unemployment

[u/Prestigious_Cow_9748 → u/PierreTheTRex]

In the US it doesn't. I've gotten it in the state of NE and FL. They adjust your benefit eligibility date based on severence.

[u/PierreTheTRex → u/Prestigious_Cow_9748]

I think most places do it that way, but by getting the severance you then have a longer buffer to find a job

[u/Fickle_Finger2974 → u/PierreTheTRex]

It does. You can’t have both

[u/ZaZaSul → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

That is not true. I got a severance package and I got unemployment. Granted, I did not get unemployment until my severance package was completed. But it worked out for me because it went in line with when I decided to retire early.

[u/Fickle_Finger2974 → u/ZaZaSul]

Not at the same time

[u/AS1thofBeethoven → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

Wrong. I got mine at the same time in California.

[u/hibiscusbitch → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

Dude, you are wrong, just accept it lol.

[u/Friendly-Victory5517 → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

You have no idea what you’re talking about. Stop posting totally false information.

[u/Needelz → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

You totally can. People who get laid off can apply for unemployment and get a severance.

[u/Fickle_Finger2974 → u/Needelz]

Not at the same time. You have to wait until your severance runs out and by then I want a new job…

[u/meltingpnt → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

It varies by state

[u/summertime_fine → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

that's false, too.

[u/Guy_Fleegmann → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

Lol, not even remotely close to true.

[u/Magnolia05 → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

That is absolutely not true. In some states unemployment doesn’t kick in until after eh severance period runs out, but you absolutely get both. Source- HR person in who handles unemployment.

[u/TabbyFoxHollow → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

In California you can

[u/Fickle_Finger2974 → u/TabbyFoxHollow]

Not at the same time. I want a new job by the time severance runs out

[u/hibiscusbitch → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

Yes you can. I got both.

[u/A_Lovely_ → u/hibiscusbitch]

Which state do you live in?

Did your unemployment begin immediately after seperation from the employer or only after the severance money had been exhausted?

[u/hibiscusbitch → u/A_Lovely_]

Texas. I got a 2 week severance, and then my unemployment payments started coming in. That’s how it works. You can absolutely get both, they just flow one after the other.

[u/Fickle_Finger2974 → u/hibiscusbitch]

Not at the same time

[u/John_the_IG → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

You are extremely confident. What is your source?

[u/Friendly-Victory5517 → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

Idiot.

[u/summertime_fine → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

you could redeem yourself and say the state you're in that clearly has some different rules.

[u/itchierbumworms → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

So confident. So wrong.

[u/knitterc → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

This is not true I have been laid off with severance twice in the US and received unemployment both times.

[u/Friendly-Victory5517 → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

Totally wrong.

[u/BatSphincter → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

Not true. Most states just adjust when your unemployment starts or ends but you’d still get full benefits. Also keep in mind unemployment is capped somewhere around 500-600 a week up to half your salary. The way the job market is right now, dudes gonna want all the help he can get.

[u/summertime_fine → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

false. I received a severance when I was laid off and promptly filed for unemployment. it was approved.

[u/Fluid-Village-ahaha → u/PierreTheTRex]

It’s state dependent. In my (WA) state you can get both at the same time.

[u/PoultryTechGuy → u/PierreTheTRex]

Unemployment isn't jack since the CARES act ended. Where I live it's max $250 a week.

[u/mxzf → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

Well, we just don't know what they're offering OP. It's up to OP to decide if the pay they're being offered is a reasonable trade for the documentation or not. If they're putting $100k on the table, that's worth considering; if they're offering $1k, probably not.

[u/Yakubs_2nd_Brain → u/PierreTheTRex]

You quit on the spot and charge $300 to consult when things go tits-up.

[u/pair_o_docs → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

For severance pay, like they state in the post

[u/Fickle_Finger2974 → u/pair_o_docs]

Take unemployment and tell them to get fucked.

[u/withac2 → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

Getting severance does not mean they can't get unemployment. Both would be best.

[u/Fickle_Finger2974 → u/withac2]

You typically can’t take both

[u/Guy_Fleegmann → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

Stop. That is not true anywhere.

[u/Fickle_Finger2974 → u/Guy_Fleegmann]

It’s true everywhere. You can’t claim unemployment until your severance ends. By the time my severance ends I want a new job not unemployment

[u/Guy_Fleegmann → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

You are completely wrong. Severance isn't paid out like a paycheck. You think when people get severance of like '4 months' that the company is continuing to pay them for 4 months, like they still work there?

That's not how severance works. It's paid as lump sum when you're fired.

Nobody takes severance on a continued payment schedule unless you're a COMPLETE moron. And even then it doesn't stop unemployment.

Have you had a real job yet? Sounds like you're literally guessing about how jobs work.

[u/BatSphincter → u/Guy_Fleegmann]

You’re normally right but one of my buddies got laid off and they did keep paying him for 4 months instead of a lump sum. I thought that was odd

[u/Kyle81020 → u/Guy_Fleegmann]

That’s not or necessarily true. My sister had a one year severance package and was paid just as if she was still working. It continued regardless of whether she had another job, too.

[u/itchierbumworms → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

Stop saying this.

[u/Fickle_Finger2974 → u/itchierbumworms]

It’s just a fact. You can’t take both at the same time

[u/itchierbumworms → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

You get unemployment once severance ends.

[u/Fickle_Finger2974 → u/itchierbumworms]

I want a new job by the time severance runs out. You only get eh unemployment after if you don’t have a job which isn’t a good thing

[u/withac2 → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

That is not what you started out saying at all.

[u/biciklanto → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

Accept the L, bro. Severance doesn’t work like you think it does.

It’s a one-off check and then it’s done and you go on unemployment.

[u/withac2 → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

No state permanently bars you from ever collecting unemployment just because you received a severance package; however, several states prohibit you from collecting both at the same time.

Some states disqualify you from receiving an unemployment check for the duration of the severance period. Once that timeframe expires, you can begin collecting benefits.

[u/Dav_Sionnach → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

Severance does not preclude you from getting unemployment it just delays it. For example if your severance is 6 weeks of your regular pay, unemployment would start paying 6 weeks later than it normally would. You will end up with more money in your pocket if you take a severance package.

[u/Fickle_Finger2974 → u/Dav_Sionnach]

At the end of 6 weeks I want a new job not unemployment…

[u/Dav_Sionnach → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

A severance package is literally your previous company paying you to find a new job. Going straight to collecting unemployment is dumb.

[u/Diligent_Yak1105 → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

It varies by state, but typically a lump sum severance payment does not delay one’s ability to collect unemployment.

[u/ZaZaSul → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

Where are you getting your information from?

[u/Fickle_Finger2974 → u/ZaZaSul]

Anywhere. You can’t have both at the same time.

[u/lathe_down_sally → u/Fickle_Finger2974]

Unemployment pays very little. The severance would have to be pretty shitty to make UI a better option

[u/OwnBrother2559 → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Go back and add in a kill switch where it stops working a few days after your last day.

[u/LuxNocte → u/OwnBrother2559]

This is probably illegal and has a great chance of getting OP sued.

[u/Fallout007 → u/LuxNocte]

It’s a bug in the code.

[u/BoopingBurrito → u/Fallout007]

And to try and prove that claim, OP spends 10x his severance check on legal fees when they take him to court.

[u/therealdanhill → u/BoopingBurrito]

Wouldn't the burden of proof be on them

[u/BoopingBurrito → u/therealdanhill]

They can still drag that out in court for weeks if they want to.

Also the burden on them would be (assuming its a US civil case) to show by preponderance of evidence that OP had the means to make it happen, the opportunity to make it happen, and a motive to make it happen. From that, the court/jury could readily find that OP more than likely did it.

If they have a version history showing post-resignation changes to the code, and those changes are to (based on forensic examination) the part that failed then that fulfils all those criteria.

OP would have to bring in expert witnesses to rebut the claim it was those parts of the code that failed, or to demonstrate the code would have failed anyway, or to suggest that some other factor was at play. Those witnesses are expensive, and lawyers are expensive as well.

[u/Fallout007 → u/BoopingBurrito]

It cost company money to get lawyers over some macros. If they lose OP can counter sue for damages. This is not dev work from a programmer. Just a diligent employee made some macros to automate labor.

[u/Lehk → u/Fallout007]

what damages? if they lose they just don't recover anything from OP, OP still has to pay their own lawyer thousands of dollars

[u/BoopingBurrito → u/Fallout007]

The point is that it'll hurt OP worse than it'll hurt the company, and in my experience you should never underestimate the likelihood of petty corporate decision making - they could easily decide to waste money on legal fees in order to ensure that OP doesn't "win". Lots of companies do things like that.

[u/S019 → u/LuxNocte]

Very much so. Has been done several times in the past. Never ends well for the employee that did it.

[u/crybannanna → u/LuxNocte]

Sued for what? He built them for him, and for security reasons he added parts to ensure they weren’t used by unauthorized people. He isn’t a software developer, being paid for that specifically. He built automation tools for himself that they decided to try to use…. They are free to rewrite them howver they want.

You think a company that fires someone who shows capacity to increase efficiency and lower their labor costs is going to sue him? They won’t even know what the bug is…. Because they don’t have people who know how to do this or it would have already been done. Who is going to raise their hand to fix it, knowing the guy who built them got fired for it?

[u/LuxNocte → u/crybannanna]

Sued for sabatoging a computer system. That tends to happen when you sabatoge your employer's computer system.

[u/skydreamer303 → u/OwnBrother2559]

This would be incredibly easy to do with a benign piece of code where they couldn't prove it was on purpose

[u/britizuhl → u/OwnBrother2559]

Hand delivery papers with disappearing ink

[u/jolt_cola → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Do the bare minimum to the point where they could accept it and leave it to the last moment so if they ask for more, it's your last day. Put in an obvious flow of what is being done and don't mention any nuances you encountered when testing it and found.

[u/Embarrassed_Pay3945 → u/Claptrap_5Z]

If he can't read code. Plant a routine that started generating garbage. Then racial And sexual insyin reports.

[u/Neakhanie → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Jeez, all you have to do is add a simple semi colon somewhere and the whole thing breaks down! if OP is a woman, she can say her new acrylic nails must have put that in, but Op is probably a boy, so maybe he goes in on a Monday with his hand in a bunch of gauze from a grill fire and burn over the weekend. Get a couple of selfies with your buds and the gauze showing. “oops! Sorry the code doesn’t work the way it was supposed to, but then it never was perfect and I had to fiddle with it every time we ran a report.”

[u/Radiant_Grab_9400 → u/Claptrap_5Z]

MAKE THEM PAY YOU FOR YOUR MACROS. 

[u/xomox2012 → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Before you leave add a function that will require some sort of input by a coder to function as expected.

Be careful not to make this something that is obviously a kill switch as that will give you trouble.

[u/Fangorangatang → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Do it. Cash your check. Block their numbers.

[u/Leslind1222 → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Change some steps and macros, get severance

[u/Obstacle616 → u/Claptrap_5Z]

I'd so password protect it all and misspell 1 letter in the docs. Easily gives you deniability and screws it up for them.

[u/scottawhit → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Be a real shame if one of those macros just had a tiny error that pointed the wrong way.

[u/Shazam1269 → u/Claptrap_5Z]

How much is the severance pay? Give a notice for your last day, and prepare a consulting rate for support.

[u/DraculasDog → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Or… just don’t do it. Let them fire you.

[u/Ironass47 → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Compile it where possible and "forget" to leave the source code.

[u/Plastic_Wrap_1353 → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Plus if they are encrypted and password protected…

[u/VengefulCaptain → u/Claptrap_5Z]

They can't force you to document anything.  Go over your boss to see if this is something the company is actually doing and then just leave.

[u/Chewy_brown → u/Claptrap_5Z]

I'd be breaking the macros on my way out if it were me. Fuck them.

[u/Wide-Chemistry-8078 → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Make sure you include long math equations! 

[u/numbersthen0987431 → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Is it too late to delete everything, or alter the code so it's unusable?

[u/Catfactss → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Your manager is going to pretend they came up with the code. Set up a meeting with your boss's boss. "I understand once I wrote the automated code to cut hours of labor costs in my role I was no longer needed to fulfil it. Are there any other positions in this company I may be useful?"

[u/Hereshkigal826 → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Any chance your boss took credit for this?

[u/dl__ → u/Claptrap_5Z]

My guess is, you documenting the work is worth with WAY MORE than the severance.

It's risky but I'd say refuse to do it. If you can delete or otherwise render your system inoperable, you should do so.

Your replacement should take as long as you used to.

[u/CategoryNo5932 → u/Claptrap_5Z]

They fired you already. The severance isn't dictated on you doing extra work after being fired. That's what employment lawyers are for

[u/Valderan_CA → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Definitely create modules in the excel VB code and ensure that your macros make reference to those modules. Make the modules NOT in the excel file itself but on your local computer.

Someone tries to use the macros on any computer but your computer... doesn't work.

Password protect the module and bind it to the local computer.

Include the password in the "script" but just include an extremely high level description of how to do that - "Macros require function modules to be localized to the computer operating the file to function"

Then if they give up and ask you to make it work on a new computer tell them you charge 125$/hour for consulting with a 2-4 hour minimum.

Having the modules hard coded to only work on whatever computer you've told them to work on is "OPERATIONAL SECURITY" making sure valuable company IP can't be stolen.

[u/uberkalden2 → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Malicious compliance time!

[u/signofno → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Don’t use AI to make more verbose, it’s just as easy to use AI to summarize or extract relevant process. But do take this to the next level of management, and pose it as a “before I go, I’m wondering if there might be other ways I could apply these same skills here at [company] to produce cost savings and efficiencies?”

[u/90dayFan5 → u/Claptrap_5Z]

Lock it with password so code is not accessible or editable unless they bring you back as consultant to do so