To have pretty much automated 90% of my job and pretend I'm very busy?

Because they won't go for it. Why would they pay more when they can get away with less?

Unfortunately, it's really easy to be punished for being too good in these situations. If she's not careful, OP will find herself with her hours dropped to part time, or taking on the jobs that no one else wants to do.

I had a role where I was bored for most of the time.

I was told I could study in any down time…

I pushed and pushed for more more and greater experience etc…

I am now very busy - mostly with the added rubbish that I would rather not be doing…

I would take advantage of the situation and take any courses and study etc that may enhance your career prospects in the long run - I wish I had.

You can still be proactive at work and find useful projects to suggest and also provide information as a fait accompli to aid the running of departments and raise your profile.

I have been the incompetent person replaced by a competent person. 20 years later I still cringe at the embarrassment.
A summer job, at a recruitment agency, loading CVs into their database. When my time there ended they gave me 3 days to train up my replacement. On the first morning I talked him through it, he gave me a look, took the mouse and keyboard and 5 mins later it was all done.
I had to tell the boss that the other 2 days of handover weren't needed and I left early.
Boss was charming about it. Replacement was not!

Op, don't say a word, except to suggest WFH for a couple of days a week.

Do I assume you work for an academy and not an LA?
My daughter took on a job as a school business manager with some relevant experience, but certainly having no idea what she was letting herself in for.
She too automated a lot, worked like a Trojan to understand all the systems, alongside doing a qualification in school business management in half the time allowed, as there was too much for her to do otherwise.
Unfortunately, whenever she had proved she had automated something, or accomplished something, she was handed another job, to the point where she was considering leaving as it was becoming too much.
She hasn't, but the job is still very full on. My point is this, is there no one else you can help in the office? Is someone else struggling while you're quietly gloating in the corner that your job only takes 6 hours but you're being paid for 37.5?

YABU - you need a frank conversation with the Head. They should be hiring you as a consultant to other schools.

And in the other scenario, of taking over two other's jobs but getting a 3k rise - why not propose this but for a 30k rise? It still saves the school circa 50k and keeps you retained.

@IroningBoardAgainstTheWall I'd love to know about your background. How you got to whee you are.....

I agree. It's far better to work "smart" than to work "hard". Spending hour after hour in an efficient way is crazy when it can be automated to be quicker and more efficient.

My only caveat would be to hope that OP has all the processes properly documented so that someone else can take over if they leave or have to take sick/maternity leave etc. Sadly, I've seen this kind of scenario when someone has changed working practices but it's all in their head and has been an absolute nightmare for a replacement to make sense of it all and keep it operational. Far too easy for that to happen with computerisation/automation if proper work instructions/documentation hasn't been created for the new efficient processes.

Absolutely not taking the piss - sure less hours but faster, higher quality work, better resiliency, improved accuracy/ data validity, improved customer service. Phil WAS taking the piss because of all the manual processing was delaying everything and giving crappy, slow results.

So I’d say the employer is tons better off because of OP’s excellent work. Plus saving the money from Phil’s retainer.

It sounds like you have been clear about the fact you have extra capacity, looked for additional ways to apply your skills /use your time.

perhaps if you have a staff meeting you could do a group presentation on the benefits of automation so it can be more joined up

But otherwise I don’t think you have much more to ‘confesss’.

You work in education, where funding is generally short. You have identified a way to cut costs and improve efficiency - well done. You will still be needed to fix things when they go wrong or when new reports are introduced, but in the meantime the moral and right thing to do would be to extend your efficient ways of working across education more widely, perhaps to other schools/unis (you don'ts exactly where you work)..

You should, in the course if this, be rewarded for your "out of the box thinking" and "innovative skills", etc, maybe even becoming an "efficiency guru".
But please don't sit back on your laurels and keep taking the salary. The country is in dire need of improved efficiency and skills like yours, so please please think big.

Is it dossing though? The job for which op gets paid to do is getting done.
Op sounds extremely clever and resourceful, why shouldn't she get paid almost like a licence fee every month for the system she has put in place and for maintaining it.

Omw amazing!! I'm jealous lol you're not being dishonest unless you specifically say "wow I'm so busy all the time."

You're being paid to do a job and you're doing it. I don't get why it matters how long it takes, much better than people who stay in work just to put in "face time."

Take it! Work to live not live to work!

Of course you should confess!
There are plenty of efficient people around who work their contracted hours!
And enjoying your free time if you WFH???? 😂 That's the reason companies want their staff back in office

If I were that quick and effective at my job, I'd set up as a freelancer. They'll still employ you as you're too good not to, but on your terms so you can work from home etc. Then you're also not bound to hours so can have other clients.

What @LogicalImpossibility said, or does the school have a requirement to offer something to local state schools and you could become their fulfilment of that?

I'd continue to use the time to upskill. You might learn stuff that helps you create additional time-saving ideas for the other staff, which will make you extremely popular. Or you could quietly research some ways for the school to bring in some extra cash, if you can do it without stepping on anyone's toes. Which will also be very welcome. I've got a pile of CPD and systems training outstanding and I would love to be quiet for a bit to catch up, and maybe even get ahead.

@IroningBoardAgainstTheWall Is your school part of a group? Schools are desperate to save money and create income, so I’m thinking you could put together a good case for SLT about selling your skills to other schools, but with their linked prep / sister school / whatever as the free test case to show the impact you can have.

Only issue with that, is that it would be good for you but possibly put less skilled people in other schools in a difficult position. They could even lose their jobs or at least have their hours massively cut, once you’ve set up the automation.

But it’s win/win for your SLT - income, and kudos for being so efficient.

The responses on this thread are really interesting.

A thread a few months ago was someone who was WFH and getting all their work done in half the time they were paid for, asking other people if they spend some of their WFH time doing housework/ chores etc if they get everything done.

The poster was absolutely slaughtered for being lazy.

But here, because you have worded your post in a certain way that makes you sound impressive (and IS impressive tbf), 80%+ of people are agreeing that it's fine for you to sit back and do very little.

No judgement from me, it's just interesting the change in opinions on what is basically the same thing - someone doing their job efficiently in less time and making use of the leftover time as they wish.

Also, why is being not very good, time wise and accuracy wise (like Phil), not what people are concerned about and that their 'tax payers money' was being used to do a not very good job and impacting others (stress of reports not being done). Seriously wrong focus.

I would use the spare time to do a course for kicks e.g. creative writing!

I'd implement operation Pay Rise. Document what you're doing, update management on the new things you've introduced, and start bringing them proposals of other things you could do/have started doing.

Introduce the new information gradually, present it as new expertise/innovation (skilled up, experimented, implemented, verified results), and use it to leverage successive significant salary increases for not much more work and still lots of free time.