HR Manager demands IT employee automate system to approve all requests, accidentally exposing sensitive data: 'That decision was automated away by your request'

Brad Dickson • Managing Editor

Aug 22, 2024 10:00 AM EDT

Change is inevitable, no matter how we try to escape it or ignore it by burying our heads in the sand. The thing is, change is also pain, as whenever something new is to be learned, there is always going to be a process of failure and adaption and a loss of the comfortable and familiar, which is why people might try to avoid change in the first place. We can then conclude that, by associative properties "change is inevitable" and "change is pain" can just be simplified to "pain is inevitable"—but that's a discussion for another story.

This IT worker faced an aging, outdated technological infrastructure and an interactive and painful bureaucratic process that had yet to be adapted to technology beyond the printing press. So, in addition to being 500 years behind in technology, the organization was also unnecessarily plagued by workflow efficiency from staff who were slow to move the physical paperwork along, as well as general competency and learning issues with staff. As the IT team tried to modernize processes, they faced inevitable pushback from the ingrained dinosaurs who were determined to stick steadfast to their paperwork.

Despite this, progress prevailed, and systems were implemented in a way that kept the dinosaurs happy. That is until the HR and Payroll manager entered the scene, complaining about the lengthy process of the new systems and about the general fact that she felt the process hadn't improved anything. Except for the issue with the process wasn't technical, it was still the sloth-like pace that the human users were approving things. The manager demanded that approval be automated too… a request she would soon regret making.