The workday can be exhausting, and some employees look for ways to reduce their workload. One Reddit user says automating their tasks initially made their job easier, but sharing the process with their manager ultimately led to more responsibilities. The user, who goes by Top-Performer8835 on Reddit, shared their experience in the subreddit r/corporate. The post received 4,000 upvotes and 301 comments.
The user, who goes by Top-Performer8835 on Reddit, shared their experience in the subreddit r/corporate. The post received 4,000 upvotes and 301 comments.
“A while back, I realized our weekly reporting was taking way too long, so I spent a weekend setting up a quick script to handle the data pulling and formatting for me. What used to take 15 hours of manual work suddenly took under a minute,” they wrote.
At first, the employee used the extra time to relax, learn new skills, and get through the workweek with less stress. However, they said things changed after they told their manager about the automation.
“I thought it would show initiative,” the employee wrote.
Instead of receiving a raise or recognition, the employee said their automated work became the new standard. They were also given part of the workload previously handled by a senior team member who had recently left the company.
“Instead of a raise or a pat on the back, my automated output just became the baseline expectation. On top of that, I was handed half the workload of a senior team member who had recently quit, along with requests to automate everyone else’s tasks too,” they wrote.
The employee said the change left them with more responsibilities and increased stress.
Redditors Share Their Own Experiences With Workplace Burnout
“I’ve learned this the hard way despite knowing better,” one user wrote. “Pretending to be more busy than you are is how you avoid burnout and substance abuse in corporate.”
Another employee could relate, “This. My first job I went above and beyond and was very vocal about my accomplishments and automations. As a result I was constantly “buddied up” with people who weren’t meeting their deadlines. And because I’m a competent hardworking person it always got done, but that set the baseline for 4 years of burnout because it became expected of me. At my current job, I still automate and create templates for my own efficiency, but I keep those to myself, and I’ll wait until my workload dwindles to the point of boredom before asking for more work. I still do a tad more than anyone else because my stuff is automated but at a pace that’s much more doable for me and I’m not cleaning up anyone’s messes unless something is a dire need.”
Other commenters described the employee’s decision to share the automation with their manager as a mistake and warned that taking on additional responsibilities could contribute to burnout.
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the events described in the Reddit post. The details in this article are based solely on Top-Performer8835’s account and the experiences and opinions shared by commenters.
