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

[IroningBoardAgainstTheWall]

So, I run a database and predecessor didn't seem to actually understand databases and what they can do so was working 50+hrs and not achieving very much. We'll call him Phil.
I took over and was warned how much work Phil did, he was very busy and he was actually in a retainer in case I needed his help or had any queries over certain tasks. I work in education and there's weekly, half termly, termly and annual tasks, quite cyclic and not difficult.

Within a month I'd automated the daily, weekly and monthly reports, added more useful ones and sent them out. During my first academic year, I'd introduced new systems to automate tasks for others, developed new ways of capturing and reporting data, linked systems to the main MIS to automate account creation and syncing etc

So basically I have very little to do anymore. I do ask for stuff to do, but there's nothing much really. I look for stuff to do but again, there's not much.Occasionally I'll get feature requests or specific reports.

But honestly I do about 4-6 hours of work a week...max, and that includes stuff that isn't really my job, like fixing printers and laptops and stuff.

Should I confess?

Yanbu.

They paid the predecessor £x for the output, they are paying you the same £x for the same output. Thay you can do it in less time is irrelevant imo. They still get what they are paying for.

I had a similar task handed down "this takes me two shifts" very very manual. I was able to extract some reports, feed it into a table and it would spit out the same info. Took about 20mins.

Did I tell anyone? Obviously not

I'm jealous. Definitely ask for condensed hours and WFH. I'd do some courses, more exercise, and gardening. Maybe set up some passive income sources - some kind of templates or fan merch sold through Etsy, RedBubble etc.

Keep the job!

I would however have to plan to stave off mind rot. Make a daily shedule to nurnm through your time.

Eg.
9-10 actual work, check emails, do ad hoc tasks for the office.
10-11 training
11-12.30 - break to watch you tube/ film/read mumsnet
12:30-1:30 lunch
1:30 - 2:00 work work
2:00 - 3:00 write book
3:00 - 4:00 - side hussle
4:00-5:00 house hold admin

Also, yessss to working from home as much as you can.

If you leave, you will need to deactivate most of your automation so they dont realise and also so they need to get you back for substantially more money as a consulting fee....

With a small daughter don’t confess! Use the time to up skill or network for another better job.

Check your contract if you are doing outside work or training during your work hours? Doesn't sound like something you ought to be allowed to do and if you get caught it could all come crashing down on you........

O.P, life is short and a rollercoaster. Enjoy this set up is what I say. Do your life admin, online food shop, planning of weekends etc, whatever takes your fancy and so you can enjoy evenings and weekends with your daughter. The only thing I personally would worry about (but I am a worrier!) is if they ever found out etc...

If you fancy moving elsewhere at some point in the future might be worthwhile investigating stuff like Fabric, Data Factory (there's a Fabric version of that which I keep meaning to look at, but it probably needs a bit more time to bed in) etc, basically keep on top of all the new stuff Microsoft are bringing out in that area. Logic apps is also good, but depends on budget as automations created using that cost per use, which power automate doesn't. Might make work a bit more interesting?

in my career there hasn’t been anything more demoralising than the brief periods times that i’ve not been busy. That hasn’t happened in years, and now i’ve got work coming out of my ears, but I prefer it that way. So i’d have to ask for other work

Can you come and work for me please

You smashed it!! Congratulations! I think you should request a work from home and start a side hustle and make a retirement fund. Also say that you need and assistant and hire me to chill out too please. Seriously, you should do some courses and follow your life’s dreams.

I like this idea 👆

That was years ago but there was a group of us doing similar tasks, quite repetitive.
Automated it as much as I could. Did 5x as much as the others.

I got told I wasn’t doing my job well 😳😳😳

One of the issues with regular reports is that people fail to read them properly and do not see the patterns emerging... is there any possibility that you could add that to your workstream? We use PowerBI and that is what I do for my Director... most people just look at that month's reporting... I look over 3. 6. 9 and 12 months, mostly to spot HR hotspots starting to bubble.

I used to feel very guilty about what I was paid until my sister pointed out that what I was really paid for was the out of hours work and pushing through screeds of work, doing it more efficiently and taking a step back to change it and not accept I was doing it a certain way because that is what we always did.

Is there any chance that someone at some point will realise how little work you're doing and there would be consequences of you not disclosing all of the automation etc?

This is brilliant advice.

Ha ha

Like...if you need a total of all the demerits this week for Year 10. Predecessor would do this all by hand every week on a particular day and time. Export all the records, count the rows 🤣, then email the head of year 10 saying "34 demerits for year 10"

I just created the template report and put it on a subscription to email to relevant year head at 3pm on a Friday. Every week until I tell it to stop. I'm nice and pause them during the holidays

The report reads the data from the previous 7 days, adds the numbers up and pings it in an email. It includes totals, pupils names, reason for demerit etc. so more useful.

I would be very careful about the suggestions of taking on another job in your current working hours. There’s a chance that your current employer might discover this (through tax code issues or otherwise).

I would absolutely do this - request some WFH days!

You've found a more efficient way to work. That's your work, so you should make the best of it.

This has happened to someone I know, though in a different sector. She reckons by Monday lunchtime she's completed her job. She is thinking of going freelance and doing the same thing for a number of different but similar organisations. Could you do something like that?

Is Phil still on a retainer? Maybe he's smarter than you thought 😂

I had this once.

I lasted six months. I am not good at being bored, especially in an office.

I did learn an awful lot of additional excel stuff.

I went off to be a teacher instead.

You'll be pleased to know I created a dashboard that you can filter by pupil or cohort (year group/tutor/ethnicity/sen status etc)

Heads of year get an ongoing report for their year group from the beginning of the year every week. Like showing trends in absence... They can start to spot patterns, like Johnny and Sophie always miss wednesday morning period 1. Or Sophie has started getting more demerits and her absence is going up, her attainment is down. So they can do interventions and see the bigger picture.

They never had this before.

What reason did they give for that?

I would definitely be saying that over the school holidays it makes no sense to heat the building and you could work from home. It might be onerous when you have young children there, but other parent can cope and needs must etc etc. just thinking of the school