Employee started giving their bare minimum after company investigated their efficiency and speed

An employee (u/itdawnedonme2 on Reddit) worked really hard to achieve targets and, in fact, completed 3x more work than expected. However, instead of praise, they received an email from management stating that they're opening an investigation to determine if they somehow cheated to achieve the unrealistic outcome. The employee shared the company's strange expectation on Reddit, where others were left stumped by the boss' line of reasoning.

"My jobs have always been geared towards data entry, as that’s what I am best at," the individual confessed. In fact, the employee loved the job so much that they often enjoyed finding new shortcuts to save time and work more efficiently. "Because of this skill, I have always excelled in prior roles that utilized it. That is, until my current career," they wrote. The person joined a new company and had been working there for three months. In just two weeks, the employee was able to perform exceptionally well in the job. "I learned the programs I was to be using and used simple keyboard shortcuts to toggle between programs and close them, used Excel formulas to concatenate and VLOOKUP repetitive information that others usually type out every time, etc. You get the idea. If there is a way to save time, I will find it," they said. Moving on, the employee explained that they had worked and achieved 3X more than expected from an employee. However, instead of praising the individual, management grew suspicious of them. 

"I get an email from management stating my numbers are 'concerning' and that they’re essentially opening up an investigation to see if I cheated somehow. I even received a screenshot of others’ numbers in one specific area, with management stating it’s impossible to have that much of a lead over those who have been here for years," the employee wrote. The boss called the employee and said she spent the day evaluating their work, but found no mistakes or foul play. The employee realized that management doesn't appreciate extra effort and hence decided to do only what is expected. As a new employee, they had broken a productivity record at work, but management, instead of appreciating, accused them of cheating. That didn't sit well with the person, and the individual confessed, "I wasn’t appreciated for my skills, so I made a spreadsheet that tells me when to stop working to avoid ever going above and beyond for them again." They added, "If they’re going to treat me like a bare minimum employee, they’re going to get a bare minimum employee." Disappointed by the company's behavior, the person said they are open to suggestions and appreciate leads for applying to other companies that would utilize their full potential.  

The employee didn't really enjoy working in the environment because, despite putting in efforts, the management didn't even bother to appreciate them. Moreover, they went on to accuse the employee of foul play. The lack of respect, appreciation, or at least acknowledgement is enough for many employees to call it quits. When GoodFirms surveyed 750+ full-time employees from around the globe, they found a similar pattern. The survey found that 39.11% of the employees said that a lack of respect, recognition, or rewards at the office may prompt them to quit. Meanwhile, reacting to the Reddit post, u/nocrimps commented, "You should leave for a new job, and make sure that right before you leave, you start trying again and do 2x the work as everyone else. Then call up whoever owns the business at your previous job and offer to train their existing employees for a huge consulting fee, since they are clearly all incompetent idiots if you do over 2x as much work as them in your first month at the company."

u/tvll​ wrote, "This is ridiculous. If you’ve ever worked with fast data entry people, all it takes is going to their desk when they’re working, so you can see how fast they are. It’s truly mind-boggling. I’ve known people who worked so fast that the computers they were working on couldn’t even keep up with them. These people are idiots. They should be putting you in charge of training others to help get them faster.

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