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/njhenry]

If a person can’t bother to learn Excel on their own it will be an uphill battle to teach them. At this point there are so many videos that will teach you Excel let alone you can ask an AI chatbot to walk you through a process. People need to want to learn.

[u/Lou_C_Fer → u/njhenry]

I had to take an excel class as part of my associates degree, and it was a great introduction. I'd recommend a class to anyone that wants to learn. Of course, I have forgotten most of it because I don't use it while on disability.

[u/Amissa → u/njhenry]

Ppl do need to want to learn. And if no matter how much they try and can’t level up in Excel skills, that’s fine. I keep trying to learn Spanish and I can’t converse with a three year old. My brain blue screens at oral reception.

[u/tgerz → u/njhenry]

At this point something like Claude Cowork can 100% take on any complicated spreadsheet task like this. No one needs documentation. It’s not something I’m bragging about or feel like is good for all of us, but I’ve just seen it. It’s really good at these types of tasks. It also reminds me of the compass being just a little out of alignment on a ship because of a nail being too close or something like that. Just enough to slowly take the ship off course and after a week they’re fucked. Automation is great until someone thinks it can run on its own without supervision.