diff --git a/.github/workflows/generate_README.yaml b/.github/workflows/generate_README.yaml
index 30a01f9..6364385 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/generate_README.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/generate_README.yaml
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ on:
   pull_request:
     paths:
       - "docs/**/*"
+env:
+  BRANCH_NAME: ${{ github.head_ref || github.ref_name }}
 
 jobs:
   make-README:
@@ -44,7 +46,7 @@ jobs:
           git add README.md
           git update-index --refresh
           if ! git diff-index --cached --quiet HEAD; then
-            echo "Committing changes to README.md"
+            echo "Committing changes to README.md to branch $BRANCH_NAME"
             git commit -m "Automated update of README.md from docs"
-            git push origin
+            git push origin HEAD:$BRANCH_NAME
           fi
diff --git a/.github/workflows/generate_help_docs.yaml b/.github/workflows/generate_help_docs.yaml
index bbb1bf1..528e535 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/generate_help_docs.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/generate_help_docs.yaml
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ on:
     paths:
       - "src/sim_recon/cli/parsing/*"
       - "src/sim_recon/settings/formatting.py"
+env:
+  BRANCH_NAME: ${{ github.head_ref || github.ref_name }}
 
 jobs:
   generate-help-docs:
@@ -46,7 +48,7 @@ jobs:
           git add docs/*
           git update-index --refresh
           if ! git diff-index --cached --quiet HEAD; then
-            echo "Committing changes to help docs"
+            echo "Committing changes to help docs to branch $BRANCH_NAME"
             git commit -m "Automated update of help docs"
-            git push origin
+            git push origin HEAD:$BRANCH_NAME
           fi