Is it unethical for me to not tell my employer I've automated my job?
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Is it unethical for me to not tell my employer I've automated my job?
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Re: Is it unethical for me to not tell my employer I've automated my job?
#2They haven't just automated the job - they've deliberately inserted errors to make it look like a human made them. That's a big step over the line into fraudulent behavior.
Re: Is it unethical for me to not tell my employer I've automated my job?
#3Neither he nor the company would be better off if he were still doing it manually.
I don't know whether I think it's ethical or not overall, but it's at least a more optimal situation than if he had continued spending 8 hours a day updating spreadsheets by hand.
He's doing a better job than he was before, for the same price, and he gets more free time. Everyone's a winner. Admittedly, he is a winner by quite a bit more than they are, but he would have been perfectly within his rights to continue doing the work manually. Then they'd be paying the same price as they are paying now but getting work with more mistakes in it. Why would they want that?
Re: Is it unethical for me to not tell my employer I've automated my job?
#4They haven't just automated the job - they've deliberately inserted errors to make it look like a human made them. That's a big step over the line into fraudulent behavior.
Agreed. If fraud = unethical, then that's what this is.
Re: Is it unethical for me to not tell my employer I've automated my job?
#5It unethical to deliberately introduce errors. If you have broad discretion about how you do the job, it may not be unethical not to actively call your employer's attention to your automation, though (but for the deliberate introduction of errors) it should, with a reasonable employer, be beneficial to do so.
Re: Is it unethical for me to not tell my employer I've automated my job?
#6I'd argue everything they're doing could be portrayed as ethical in some context.
If they aren't actively looking to replace the job they feel the need to fraudulently accomplish, I'd argue that's the unethical component. I don't think they mentioned anything about looking for more work.
It's one thing to be in a situation where the only options you can perceive as valid are fraudulent ones. It's another thing to choose to stay in it instead of choosing to extract yourself.
Re: Is it unethical for me to not tell my employer I've automated my job?
#7Neither he nor the company would be better off if he were still doing it manually. I don't know whether I think it's ethical or not overall, but it's at least a more optimal situation than if he had continued spending 8 hours a day updating spreadsheets by hand. He's doing a better job than he was before, for the same price, and he gets more free time. Everyone's a winner. Admittedly, he is a winner by quite a bit mo…
> free time
The employer is paying for that time, so... he should be doing something for the company.
Ideally, he'd tell them of his accomplishment and get a raise and a job helping other people automate their jobs, or something like that.
Re: Is it unethical for me to not tell my employer I've automated my job?
#8You get to spend more time with your son. In a country with a terrible maternity and paternity leave policy, it's morally right to do whatever possible to spend more time with one's children. You are doing a great service to the country, as your child will turn out to be a more mentally healthy adult. Just for that reason (besides that you are providing value to your employer), keep going!
Re: Is it unethical for me to not tell my employer I've automated my job?
#9This describes my first job. We ended up automated everything and I ended up getting hired as a programmer.
Re: Is it unethical for me to not tell my employer I've automated my job?
#10The way I see it, this is the employer's problem. In a good company, what benefits the company, also benefits the employee. In this case the employee and the company have different incentives, and the company does not care enough to solve the problem of incentives.
There are many, easy ways the employer could solve this problem so that both parties benefit. The employee does not have the same ability to pursue mutually beneficial solutions, and is acting like a normal profit-seeking business would.