An anonymous professional is facing a modern-day workplace dilemma: whether to reveal an automation breakthrough that would save half the office's working hours. After streamlining three-fourths of a major company process, the employee turned to social media to ask whether they should report the success, prompting a wave of warnings about how MNCs often handle high-performing "innovators."
“Automated my work, saving 60% time. Should I reveal it to the manager?” a Reddit user wrote. The employee explained, “I've automated the process in which around 100 people are working. I deployed VBA codes with the help of AI and automated 3/4th process. It will save 60% time for each employee.”
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The person continued, “I tested it very thoroughly and it does work errorless. Now my question is, whether to reveal this to my reporting manager?”
Explaining the reason behind the dilemma, the individual added, “I'm thinking if I tell this to my manager then he will increase the workload on all of us. But again I most probably be just praised (no chances for promotion). It would help my firm a lot, I mean just imagine saving half office hours of all the employees? What should I do? Experienced people pls suggest.”
{{/usCountry}}Explaining the reason behind the dilemma, the individual added, “I'm thinking if I tell this to my manager then he will increase the workload on all of us. But again I most probably be just praised (no chances for promotion). It would help my firm a lot, I mean just imagine saving half office hours of all the employees? What should I do? Experienced people pls suggest.”
{{/usCountry}}What did social media say?
An individual posted, “Do not reveal it. Keep it to yourself. Use the time you have saved to do something else.” Another expressed, “My girlfriend works in a MNC in fraud investigation department, the guy who started the whole program (had been working in that company from last 20 years in USA) was laid off, because that guy had made so many SOPs and automated so much work that the company decided they would save so much money by laying him off and transferring the manual work done by him to India. Short answer - NO.”
A third commented, “I automated a tedious task for a friend once; he did hours' worth of work in minutes! He revealed this script to his manager, and all he got was an appreciation plaque. No bonus, no promotion. So yeah, just enjoy the free time unless you're sure there is some reward.” The OP responded, “Ohh! I'm also in the same condition. It's an MNC with heavy policies and regulations. Forget about promotion, they won't even give me a bonus or appraisal.”
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A fourth wrote, “If the manager just wants you busy and you are evaluated based on how busy you look, do not reveal. If you are evaluated based on outcome, not micromanaged, Reveal and plan to get more things done while cascading the efficiency to the rest of the team.”
(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)