I don't believe that a salaried employee is duty-bound to work any more hours in a week than is required to accomplish their given assignments. Nor do I believ

I don't believe that a salaried employee is duty-bound to work any more hours in a week than is required to accomplish their given assignments. Nor do I believe that the tools they create themselves to do that job more effectively should automatically become the property of the employer. The reason people do not disclose the automation of their own jobs is because they do not believe they can monetize their cleverness more effectively than by keeping secret their shortcuts. They sincerely believe the company will fire them and pay nothing for their automation tools. It is ultimately a "truth to power" phenomenon. If you have the power to plunge me into a lifestyle of deprivation and poverty, I will avoid giving you any reason for doing so. If you have the power to take some of my profits for yourself, I will seek to avoid informing you that is possible. The philosophy of "Office Space" applies. It's a question of motivation. If I bust my ass so the boss makes more money, I don't see another dime, so I just do the minimum amount to not get fired. And we also have to know that the minimum amount of flair is not the actual minimum amount we can wear. I'm sure many of us have seen extra effort go completely unrewarded, or even get punished. That experience takes a toll. Not one of us can trust our employer to do the right thing all the time--even for those of us that are founders! So we preemptively choose for them, and sometimes do the thing that is right only for us. If more companies were capable of more accurately assessing the value of software automation, we wouldn't have to think twice--we'd take the bonus equivalent to several years salary, and start automating something else.