[hylaride]

I've not had to do this often or in awhile as over the past decade until very recently it's been a tech workers market and I've had more power, but I've spent (sometimes personal) time in past jobs to automate these kinds of things.

What I eventually learned to do in Kafkaesque organizations is do it anyways. If it works, ask for permission to spend time developing it, stressing how much time it'll free up. If it never gets approved or shot down, I use the solution anyways and use the time savings to focus on other things (which can vary on actual work which I present as spending "non-toil" time on, to taking mental health breaks).

At some level it's dishonest, but that's what happens when organizations stifle initiative.