DevOps principles, and CI/CD specifically, are generally presented as a way to more efficiently run a software development organization. There are great resources out there that demonstrate the practical benefits of CI/CD.
If you’re interested in that data, I’d recommend the book “Accelerate”, but let’s forget about all of that for a moment.
There’s a saying: People don’t quit bad jobs, they quit bad bosses
Automation isn’t just about being more effective in an absolute sense; though it is that as well.