[CSL board] bonuses

[Dan MacNeil]

Karen Zgoda wrote:
 > what are your goals for  the lab?  Would a monetary bonus
 > advance all these ends?

Right now we keep people for a about a year. I'd like to  keep people 
for 5 years so as to benefit from the learning they've done. Josh 
Harding and David Siegal both would have stuck with us for $30k per year.

For somebody to make 30K per year (+ benefits) with us they need to be 
directly responsible for bringing in at least that much on contract 
work.  So far the big bang, your VISTA term is done, you need to live on 
contract work method hasn't worked.

I want people to have a clear understanding that how they work effects 
success.

Karen Zgoda wrote:
 > goal is to prepare VISTAs/work studys for their
 > post-service working environments.  Is this accurate?

This is about 30-40% of my motivation.

I was fortunate enough to spend years 19 through 27 paying my  rent by 
washing dishes, unloading trucks and and digging ditches. If I didn't 
show up for work @ 7:00am, I didn't get paid and my roommates started to 
talk about finding a more responsible replacement.

The present group at the lab is relatively motivated, but there have 
been 2-3 VISTAs who've left the lab with the same lack of self-ownership 
that they entered with.

Laura claims that a work ethic can't be taught, but I am more hopeful.

Karen Zgoda wrote:
 > Or are you more concerned about their productivity,

This is most of it. We exist to contribute to free software and non 
profit organizational efficiency. Improving people's skills is a means 
to that end, but not an end on its own.

Paradoxically, I think that people get better skills with us than they 
would if our focus was job training.

 > People can be motivated by money short-term but it's the
 > intangible stuff that motivates them long-term and leads
 > to change.

Yes, I agree with you. Longer term, it is a symbol and a metric.

 > Find out what they find motivating.  Have you asked them
 > what motivates them?

Good point, not directly no I have not. Indirectly people have 
volunteered stuff like:

	"contributing"
	"accomplishing"
	"getting experience"

Fred Martin writes:
 > I thought from many conversations that no one was in it
 > for the  money.

Yep, From:

	http://thecsl.org/go/board/#purposes

Non-profit purpose #4:

	By our example, we will encourage a culture
	that measures success based on accomplishment
  	not wealth.

That doesn't mean we are oblivious to money. We can keep people for 3-5 
years, if we can pay them enough to own a car and pay the rent on an 
apartment. This is not wealth.

I hope some bonus money now will help people be ready to keep working 
with us when when their wage subsidy ends. (graduation or post VISTA).

Alternatively, if people's pay depends a little on their work, they may 
be prepared to be their own boss when they leave us.

Fred Martin writes:
 > Not that a few "bob" (as they say here  in Ireland
 > where I'm  staying) will make much difference.

If you are making $70,000 a year, $100 is not much. If you are making 
$16,000, it is quite a bit.

Even when a person doesn't "need" the money, a little money is a 
powerful symbol, a sign that ones  work is valued enough to take the 
trouble to pay for it, that it makes a difference.

Fred Arden, did great work at the Calab foundation's chestnut square 
lab. As a retired engineer and investor, he didn't need the money, but 
he choose to volunteer with Caleb because they paid for his parking.

I've often been unhappy volunteering for people who used my labor 
because it was free rather than because they needed it.

Fred Martin writes:
 > In other words, if there are motivational problems, then
 > they'd be  deeper than such can be solved with a bonus at
 > the end of the month.

I don't think there are problems.

I do think there are potential benefits when people feel that their 
reward (money, status, accomplishment) is tied directly to their work.

The fact that our rent and much of our wages aren't tied to any 
particular set of results gives us some freedom to do stuff that 
couldn't be done otherwise. It also potentially blinds us to work people 
  want enough to pay for.