Can I encourage you to write up a top-level post detailing what you think the ideal salary algorithm for non-profits is?
I think you raise some valid points, and also can viscerally feel the punishment being inflicted on habryka for his forthrightness here (which is useful to everyone regardless of the specific salary), which is going to reduce similar efforts in the future in ways we will all be poorer for. My general solution for problems like this is to suggest people write up a top level post making their general case (which may link to the motivating example but has a scope beyond it). The advantages here are:
avoids punishing people who are taking steps in the right direction, although they may not have arrived at an optimum yet
Lets you, the OP, and everyone else focus on identifying the right general algorithm, instead of arbitrating one particular instance, where one participant has way more information than the others.
Your argument is seen by everyone who cares about the topic, rather than only people who click through an org announcement.
(Should I write up a top-level post arguing this rather than leave a comment? Probably eventually).
Who is being punished here? I see people leaving feedback and discussing ideas, and have no idea who you are worried about.
I strongly agree with AI_WAIFU, but don’t have a useful general strategy for non-profit funding. My opposition is based on a simple heuristic: wealthy orgs should not systematically underpay their employees. Making a thread saying that seems extremely not useful.
Speaking to the general point, as AI_WAIFU points out, there is an extremely large amount of money apparently sitting around. The thread he links to implies that EA has about 5 million dollars per active member of the community and that cash is growing faster than membership. That’s an obscene amount of cash, and being stingy about pay doesn’t really make sense to me.
Others in this thread have brought up the fact that many non-profit underpay, but that’s not because there’s some kind of virtue in underpaying (quite the opposite: it’s exploitive), it’s because they’re poor. EA is apparently are swimming in cash, so that comparison doesn’t make much sense here. Additionally, many non-profits compensate for underpaying with extremely generous benefits, which this post makes no mention of.
“We pay less than you’re worth because we only want people who really care about the mission” is typically a lie HR tells people, not an actual thing people believe. Reading that it’s a thing that Lightcone believes worries me, as it makes me feel like you’re drinking your own Kool-Aide too hard.
This also signals that you don’t care about your employees. Pay is the number one way orgs indicate that they care about their employees.
“We pay less than you’re worth because we only want people who really care about the mission” is typically a lie HR tells people, not an actual thing people believe. Reading that it’s a thing that Lightcone believes worries me, as it makes me feel like you’re drinking your own Kool-Aide too hard.
Lightcone seems to be the kind of organization that wants members who might donate to it if they wouldn’t work there. Startup XYZ usually isn’t a place where it’s employees would donate if they wouldn’t work there so it’s a HR lie in those cases.
Why do you think well paid people take jobs as ministers or other influencial political roles that pay significantly less then their previous jobs?
Personally, I don’t pick up any vibe of “punishing” of habryka from reading these comments. And his post is highly upvoted, along with yours praising the transparency of the hiring decision. But this is very hard to tell from blog comments, and I agree that it’s something to watch out for.
Can I encourage you to write up a top-level post detailing what you think the ideal salary algorithm for non-profits is?
I think you raise some valid points, and also can viscerally feel the punishment being inflicted on habryka for his forthrightness here (which is useful to everyone regardless of the specific salary), which is going to reduce similar efforts in the future in ways we will all be poorer for. My general solution for problems like this is to suggest people write up a top level post making their general case (which may link to the motivating example but has a scope beyond it). The advantages here are:
avoids punishing people who are taking steps in the right direction, although they may not have arrived at an optimum yet
Lets you, the OP, and everyone else focus on identifying the right general algorithm, instead of arbitrating one particular instance, where one participant has way more information than the others.
Your argument is seen by everyone who cares about the topic, rather than only people who click through an org announcement.
(Should I write up a top-level post arguing this rather than leave a comment? Probably eventually).
This response confuses me.
Who is being punished here? I see people leaving feedback and discussing ideas, and have no idea who you are worried about.
I strongly agree with AI_WAIFU, but don’t have a useful general strategy for non-profit funding. My opposition is based on a simple heuristic: wealthy orgs should not systematically underpay their employees. Making a thread saying that seems extremely not useful.
Speaking to the general point, as AI_WAIFU points out, there is an extremely large amount of money apparently sitting around. The thread he links to implies that EA has about 5 million dollars per active member of the community and that cash is growing faster than membership. That’s an obscene amount of cash, and being stingy about pay doesn’t really make sense to me.
Others in this thread have brought up the fact that many non-profit underpay, but that’s not because there’s some kind of virtue in underpaying (quite the opposite: it’s exploitive), it’s because they’re poor. EA is apparently are swimming in cash, so that comparison doesn’t make much sense here. Additionally, many non-profits compensate for underpaying with extremely generous benefits, which this post makes no mention of.
“We pay less than you’re worth because we only want people who really care about the mission” is typically a lie HR tells people, not an actual thing people believe. Reading that it’s a thing that Lightcone believes worries me, as it makes me feel like you’re drinking your own Kool-Aide too hard.
This also signals that you don’t care about your employees. Pay is the number one way orgs indicate that they care about their employees.
Lightcone seems to be the kind of organization that wants members who might donate to it if they wouldn’t work there. Startup XYZ usually isn’t a place where it’s employees would donate if they wouldn’t work there so it’s a HR lie in those cases.
Why do you think well paid people take jobs as ministers or other influencial political roles that pay significantly less then their previous jobs?
Personally, I don’t pick up any vibe of “punishing” of habryka from reading these comments. And his post is highly upvoted, along with yours praising the transparency of the hiring decision. But this is very hard to tell from blog comments, and I agree that it’s something to watch out for.
If it saves you some effort, I feel like my now here’s why I’m punching you points at the same thing?