r/careerguidance • u/Claptrap_5Z • 18h ago
Management is cutting my job after I automated 15 hours of weekly work, do I have to document it for them?
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?
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u/motific 18h ago
Essentially you developed something for the company's benefit on their time, the benefit for them being they don't need to pay you any more. The code is the ultimate documentation so write very basic descriptions of how to use functions, but not how it was built or how it works under the hood, or how to recognise if something didn't work correctly.
Also remember that if the code happens to break in a few weeks time then you are no longer an employee and will need to ensure that your consulting rates cover your losses from not having a job any more.