Suggestions for paid work
Hey folks We have been avoiding the very loaded *paid position* conversation for about 2 years here at Pirates. As we are getting even busier than every before, and making more than enough money to cover our operation costs, I think it is time to start hashing out various ideas for ways to pay for certain tasks to be done.
I don't think we are in the market to have a paid coordinator or shop manager, as it would be too likely to lead to authoritarian issues and would take up too much of our extra cash. Do folks have suggestions or examples of small-scale employment or honorarium models that have worked for them?
To give you a guideline let's talk about paying out less than $600 a month.
thanks! ainsley.
We went through this a few years ago. I think much depends on what
your org. needs done that would require paying someone to ensure it
gets done. What sort of tasks are you talking about? Bookkeeping?
Staffing on certain days (like weekends)?
At our shop the paid role came from within. I was basically doing
much of that extra work that needs doing, and after a few years there
was enough of it that I needed to get some compensation in order to
keep that level of time commitment going. Fortunately, our core
group is pretty cohesive and almost everyone agreed to the idea (one
never liked it, and eventually quit).
I currently get a monthly honourarium, but once we incorporate
(papers should come through next month) we'll be re-examining that. I
like to think that we have avoided most authoritarian issues mainly
because I have no power. But two others in our group are on this
list so I'll let them tell me if I'm full of crap. ;)
So if there is someone in your group asking for some compensation, I
think that could be easily dealt with. Having to hire from outside
can obviously be more problematic, because your group may feel they
have to supervise this "outsider", at least for the first while. And
that's often not a task most volunteers want to take on.
Mark Rehder - General Manager re-Cycles Bicycle Co-op http://re-cycles.ca
On 11-Apr-10, at 10:55 AM, Ainsley Naylor wrote:
Hey folks We have been avoiding the very loaded *paid position* conversation
for about 2 years here at Pirates. As we are getting even busier
than every before, and making more than enough money to cover our
operation costs, I think it is time to start hashing out various
ideas for ways to pay for certain tasks to be done.I don't think we are in the market to have a paid coordinator or
shop manager, as it would be too likely to lead to authoritarian
issues and would take up too much of our extra cash. Do folks have
suggestions or examples of small-scale employment or honorarium
models that have worked for them?To give you a guideline let's talk about paying out less than $600
a month.thanks! ainsley.
I keep mentioning the bike church clerkship model.
identify the jobs and write up descriptions, tasks instructions. then at quarterly meetings divide them up amongst the collective. Rotate whenever possible (as in annually, biannually. . . ).
At the church the clerkships are alotted 5-10 hours per week. Mechanics (collective members) are not allowed to work over 10 hours per week w/o checknig in about getting paid for it at a meeting. Seems like something like that could be kept under $600/month.
This does mean that it doesn't become a primary source of income for any one individual and to be a collective member, you pretty much need to have another job (with a somewhat flexible schedule). open hours staffing and meetings are still volunteer.
josh
On Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 7:55 AM, Ainsley Naylor needleandthread@gmail.comwrote:
Hey folks We have been avoiding the very loaded *paid position* conversation for about 2 years here at Pirates. As we are getting even busier than every before, and making more than enough money to cover our operation costs, I think it is time to start hashing out various ideas for ways to pay for certain tasks to be done.
I don't think we are in the market to have a paid coordinator or shop manager, as it would be too likely to lead to authoritarian issues and would take up too much of our extra cash. Do folks have suggestions or examples of small-scale employment or honorarium models that have worked for them?
To give you a guideline let's talk about paying out less than $600 a month.
thanks! ainsley.
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i think you should talk to your group, ask them what they do and what they want being done in the space. Find a way to pay them for doing that extra something, like garbage and scrape overhaul. Parts and ordering. If the situation of money is dicey one should pay someone to steward the deed. I\v also heard of different ways grants can pay for coordinators.
I like the model of contract work, so people can share the role of being paid and thus eliminate the authority from the position.
Bike Pirates have been avoiding the paid position becuase we can do without it. We shall see for this bike bike in August 13th?
On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 2:52 AM, joshua muir muirjoshua@gmail.com wrote:
I keep mentioning the bike church clerkship model.
identify the jobs and write up descriptions, tasks instructions. then at quarterly meetings divide them up amongst the collective. Rotate whenever possible (as in annually, biannually. . . ).
At the church the clerkships are alotted 5-10 hours per week. Mechanics (collective members) are not allowed to work over 10 hours per week w/o checknig in about getting paid for it at a meeting. Seems like something like that could be kept under $600/month.
This does mean that it doesn't become a primary source of income for any one individual and to be a collective member, you pretty much need to have another job (with a somewhat flexible schedule). open hours staffing and meetings are still volunteer.
josh
On Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 7:55 AM, Ainsley Naylor <needleandthread@gmail.com
wrote:
Hey folks We have been avoiding the very loaded *paid position* conversation for about 2 years here at Pirates. As we are getting even busier than every before, and making more than enough money to cover our operation costs, I think it is time to start hashing out various ideas for ways to pay for certain tasks to be done.
I don't think we are in the market to have a paid coordinator or shop manager, as it would be too likely to lead to authoritarian issues and would take up too much of our extra cash. Do folks have suggestions or examples of small-scale employment or honorarium models that have worked for them?
To give you a guideline let's talk about paying out less than $600 a month.
thanks! ainsley.
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit:
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-- Joshua Muir muirjoshua@gmail.com
Frances Cycles -- www.francescycles.com Handbuilt cycling framesets Touring, Track, Road,Cross, and Cycletrucks for hauling any distance (831) 469-3369
The Bicycle Church Collective Community Self-Service Cycle Repair 3pm to 7pm everyday except Sunday 703 Pacific Ave (enter on Spruce St) Santa Cruz, CA 95060 (831) 425-2453
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At re-Cycles we decided since (at the time) all of our labour was volunteer that we should only consider paying wages for a service that we we unable to accomplish with volunteer labour. So far we have applied this to 4 services.
- Day to day contact with other organizations and media which tends to occur during 9-5 weekdays. Most of our senior volunteer resources have full time jobs which make them unavailable weekdays.
2) We needed to find a new shop location, move and incorporate. Arranging all that was a significant effort that needed corrdinating and was beyond the amount of time of any of our senior volunteers was able to donate. 3) Corrdinating the day-to-day running of the organization and doing all the stuff that no volunteers offered to do in a timely manner. Again a significant effort that needed corrdinating and was beyond the amount of time of any of our senior volunteers was able to donate. 4) Extending our hours to days and weekends. We were getting overwhelmed on the evenings we were open as well as getting many requests to be open outside of our evening hours. We knew from past experience we did not have any senior volunteers available/willing to work days or weekends so we decided to offer some paid hours. Services 1-3 ended up being combied into a Director's Honararium allowing Mark to dedicate the hours required to accomplish those tasks. The need for service 4 is reviewed twice a year. Thus far no volunteers have come forward to work those shifts and the work accomplished has relieved some of the pressure from the evening shifts while also proving to be revenue positive (after paying the wages).
Chris Wells (Email Handler & one of many Volunteer Head Mechanics)
re-Cycles Bicycle Co-op 473 Bronson Ave. Ottawa info@re-cycles.ca http://www.re-cycles.ca/
--- On Sun, 4/11/10, Ainsley Naylor needleandthread@gmail.com wrote:
From: Ainsley Naylor needleandthread@gmail.com Subject: [TheThinkTank] Suggestions for paid work To: thethinktank@bikecollectives.org Date: Sunday, April 11, 2010, 10:55 AM
Hey folks We have been avoiding the very loaded *paid position* conversation for about 2 years here at Pirates. As we are getting even busier than every before, and making more than enough money to cover our operation costs, I think it is time to start hashing out various ideas for ways to pay for certain tasks to be done.
I don't think we are in the market to have a paid coordinator or shop manager, as it would be too likely to lead to authoritarian issues and would take up too much of our extra cash. Do folks have suggestions or examples of small-scale employment or honorarium models that have worked for them?
To give you a guideline let's talk about paying out less than $600 a month.
thanks! ainsley.
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At Free Ride Pittsburgh we continue to have an entirely volunteer-run open shop. For a few years now we have paid some of our Collective Council members (basically anyone who volunteers 20 hours per quarter and attends 1 monthly meeting) to teach adult classes, run youth programs and occasionally fix up a few bikes for sale. All of these things do have associated incomes.
We have training processes for each of these and there are no formal positions. Anyone collective council member can enter the training process at any time and enter the pool of trained instructors to share the work that is available. It has never been more than 3 or so steady instructors for us at any time.
We have always admired the Santa Cruz Bike Church Clerkship system for a while now. It is really cool. We have been discussing it on and off for about 3 years now, but still haven't... I don't know, just made it fit for us. Really, in my opinion, I think we have been a bit resistant to spending that much money.
Anyway, its one other option to consider.
Scott
participants (6)
-
Ainsley Naylor -
Chris Wells -
Geoffrey B -
joshua muir -
Mark Rehder -
Scott Gibson