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/Ok-Addition-1000]

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.