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/TheReal_Jeses]

Between that and the fact that automation still requires upkeep they will 100% fuck it up. Automating a process is one thing, keeping that automation from decaying when things expire or updates happen is another. That paired with a lack of fundamental understanding means it’s doomed to fail

[u/RuralWAH → u/TheReal_Jeses]

This. It's often easier to start over working from scratch than trying to modify someone else's code.