Updated Dec 21, 2021 | 13:09 IST

A man has shared how he took the 'work smarter, not harder' saying quite seriously and managed to get promotions and raises after "doing nothing" at work for five years.

The man got a data entry job on night shifts in 2015. "It was a data entry position, meaning I get an email containing the details of an order and proceeding to input the information into our system," he said on Reddit.

After training, he knew that he could use code to get the work done. Since he didn't know how to code, he hired a freelancer to develop the code for him. This cost him a salary of two months.

All he had to do was provide input for how many orders he wanted to process per hour.

"Since day 1 I was working from home because the company did not want to pay for transport or cleaning during the graveyard shift," the man said.

He continued, "For the first 2 years, I would check if there was something the code cannot do (usually took me less than 5 minutes) and then I would let the computer running and watch movies, go to bed, sometimes I'd even go out. Then I added those functions to the code as well."

He said that he was offered promotions a few times for his "remarkable job". He got offers for better jobs but he rejected them as "there was no reason for me to quit where I was working."

The man added, "Sometimes some co-workers will try to match my order entry quota, which would make me open the code, and change an 8 to 9 to increase my production and keep myself on top. I'd change the numbers regularly "just in case" but nobody even noticed."

He also got salary raises twice for not taking leaves.

The employers took four years to develop a programme that would replace his position. "A few weeks ago I got my severance check, I was told I could keep the laptop and office equipment and that I'm welcome to apply for any position I want. I never talked about that with anybody IRL, not even my family, even my wife wasn't sure what my job was about with that other company. Now that it is over. There you go, my darkest work secret," he said.

One user said, "You were paid to do a job. Who gives a shit how you got it done. Love this one... Hahahaha." Another wrote, "Yeah. If in 5 years no one ever checked in to find out how he was spending his time, it's on them. He got paid to fill in data, he filled in the data. Contract fulfilled."

A third user added, "Lol, and was offered promotions!" Yet another commented, "Automate something for a company, get paid once. Automate your own job without anyone knowing and get paid for five years of doing nothing. Hats off to you, even if the ride is over."

After receiving support from fellow Redditors, the man said, "I always felt some hidden guilt, but I knew in this subreddit I'd find support. Though I did try at some point telling them but didn't really try very hard."