Imagine finding a shortcut where you can get 8 hours worth of work done in 2 hours. Would you expect your boss to be happy that you’re so efficient, or would you think he’d want you to slow down?

In this story, one employee was in this exact situation, and after his boss’s reaction, he’s looking for another job.

Let’s see what happened.

Got Punished for Being Too Efficient. Guess I’ll Just Slow Down.

I work in data processing.

Last year I taught myself Python and wrote some scripts that automated about 70% of my daily tasks. What used to take me 6-7 hours now takes maybe 2.

I’ve been using the extra time to learn new skills, help coworkers, and actually think through problems instead of just grinding through repetitive work.

Felt pretty good about it. Thought I was being a model employee finding efficiencies, improving processes, all that corporate buzzword stuff they’re always preaching.

But his manager disagreed.

Had my review last month.

My manager told me my “output has remained stagnant” and I’m “not taking on enough responsibility.”

When I explained the automation and offered to teach others or take on new projects, he seemed annoyed. Said that if I have time to spare, I should be processing more entries manually to “boost my numbers.”

Here’s the kicker he told me to stop using my scripts because it makes other team members “look bad by comparison” and creates “unrealistic productivity expectations.”

It doesn’t make sense.

So let me get this straight.

I found a way to do my job better and faster, and instead of rewarding that or spreading it to the team, they want me to go back to doing mindless manual work so everyone stays equally miserable?

I asked about a raise or promotion since I clearly have capacity for more.

Got the usual “maybe next year” and “budget constraints” speech.

This would be really frustrating.

Meanwhile, I just saw they posted a job listing for a “Process Improvement Specialist” paying 20k more than I make. You know, literally what I’ve been doing.

I’ve stopped using the scripts.

Back to manually processing everything. Taking the full 8 hours again.

Manager seems happier now. Guess they don’t actually want efficiency they want us to look busy.

Already updating my resume.

It doesn’t make sense that they want him to look busy. You’d think they’d want him to teach other people how to automate their tasks so everyone could be more efficient instead of wanting everyone to slow down.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

Getting a different job where his ideas are appreciated is an even better idea.

Seriously! Make it make sense!

He didn’t get the gold star he expected.

Being an overachiever isn’t always rewarded.