Asked to document everything I do

shayser

My employer has asked me to write up procedural documents for all the work I do? He says it's in case I'm ever off for a period of time, e.g., sick. He wants it to be a step-by-step walk-through. Should I do this? Makes me feel a bit vulnerable, tbh.

spurious

Is everyone in your workplace doing this?
I can't see a problem with doing it unless you're being singled out in some way. We all had to do something similar where I work.

keefg

There isn't much you can do really. It is a reasonable request from your employer for a valid reason.

I have worked in a few large multinational companies where I have had to prepare full SOP's (Standard Operating Procedures) for me and my staff.

You could find yourself in trouble with your boss if you refuse to do it.

syklops

I was asked to do this, I started it, and about two weeks later, they said they were going to sack me, if I did not dance to their tune. The tune being "Write everything you have learned while being in the company down". I figured i was getting the heave-ho anyway so resigned.

If what you do is done by no other person in the office, it could be that they just want a dummies guide in case you get hit by the bus. It could by that they are not quite sure what you do. Or it could be that your for the high jump. If i was you, I would get a meeting with management, and discuss the undiscovered country(the future) .

BuffyBot

I've had to do it in plenty of places.

seamus

This is a reasonable request if you're pretty much the only person who knows how to do your job.

I have to do it all the time, it's painful. The upside however is that instead of constantly having people disturbing you with mickey mouse requests, you just throw a document at them and tell them to leave you alone.

Think about it from their point of view - there's a whole pile of stuff that only you know how to do, and that's not documented. If you were to be hit by a bus tomorrow, then nobody knows how to fill in the gap - even a contractor would take some time to bed in, becuase they don't have the knowledge.

It's standard practice in any well-run company.

Mr. Presentable

Hehe. If you put enough detail in, you won't get any other work done. In fact you can do a procedural document for the writing of the procedural document

leeroybrown

It seems like a perfectly reasonable request. Lots of employers are in overly risky situations where important business knowledge would dissappear if an employee got ill, left, got hit by a bus, etc. I would suggest that it is a prudent move on any employers part to ensure that they have procedural documents.

There are also loads of regulatory, legal, insurance and other reasons to have accurate procedural documentation. Then there's the cases where the want to move someone on.

Newaglish

I suppose i'd feel vulnerable if my workflow included:


11.24am: Surf boards



Ho ho...



I wouldn't worry about it anyway, unless you've got loads of idle time that they might pick up on.

shayser

I can see this from an employers point of view. However, I do have reason to be concerned, which I'll not go into.

There are other areas of work documented, all office administrative stuff. I don't think I should spend my time, effort, education, training etc in order to write a manual so that he or some other joe soap can do it for free.

The first thing he has asked me to do is to write a disaster recovery procedure. Now, no matter how detailed I would make this, it's not going to work. Describe how to install and configure raid, restore a network OS, users, data, etc etc? Write the steps to add an expansion card to a PBX, add extensions, users?

He is the boss, though, and as such answers to nobody, in all reality!

Newaglish

shayser wrote:

However, I do have reason to be concerned, which I'll not go into.

Ah go on!