[Osmf-talk] Framework for the foundation's hiring practices

Allan Mustard allan at mustard.net
Fri May 8 23:32:36 UTC 2020


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Simon,

That's one of the questions we want the community to help us suss out. 
Direct-hire, contract, or third-party hire?  What does the community
suggest?

apm

On 5/8/2020 6:01 PM, Simon Poole wrote:
> Tobias
>
> Could you clarify if the board actual means "employee" when it is using
> the term or if the actual intent is to simply contract work out.
>
> The legal issues with both variants are rather convoluted, but different.
>
> Simon
>
> Am 06.05.2020 um 22:24 schrieb Tobias Knerr:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> the OSMF Board wants to think about a general framework to hire people
>> to fill in the gaps that volunteers can't fill. We believe that, given
>> good practices and firm boundaries, hiring people would be worthwhile.
>> It could ensure the continued stability of the OSM platform (servers,
>> integral software) among other things, and augment the currently
>> overworked volunteers and under resourced efforts in the face of
>> continued growth.
>>
>> We would like to gather your input on strategies to have the highest
>> possible positive impact at an acceptable cost, and with as few negative
>> effects as possible.
>>
>> We had a brainstorm about this during the screen2screen, and these are
>> some things we all agree on:
>>
>> * We strongly prefer not to hire when there are adequate volunteer
>> options. In particular, we are not going to engage in paid mapping.
>> * We need to define criteria for when we -can’t- wait for volunteers to
>> step up.
>> * We do not want to grow an army of employees. We do not envision 20
>> employees within 5 years, let alone 200!
>> * We want to make employees cooperate remotely, and through the same
>> platforms that volunteer contributors to that project also use.
>> * We should make sure all employees are treated equitably.
>> * People with an OSM volunteer background should be preferred (because
>> it demonstrates qualifications, added trustworthiness, and is the right
>> thing to do), but we don't agree to which degree.
>> * We want to avoid paid leadership or decision-making positions
>> * We want people to work for the community, not for the Board. But we
>> also do not want employees to have 10,000 bosses - that's a recipe for
>> burnout.
>>
>> Some of the risks we hope the community can help address include the
>> following:
>> * Paid work can have a chilling effect on volunteering.
>> * Paid staff has other incentives than volunteers.
>> * Paid staff has more power to set direction of the project than a
>> volunteer, if only because of the amount of time they have.
>> * Paid staff hired from outside the community may lack an understanding
>> and appreciation for the way the community works.
>> * A direct link between organizations providing funding and a job being
>> done might give those organizations undue power.
>> * The organization that decides what gets worked on becomes quite
>> powerful, which risks losing the benefits of do-ocracy.
>>
>> We know there are many issues with hiring people, but we hope that we
>> can install meaningful guardrails against the risks. Your input will
>> help us devise a strategy that makes sure we define the right jobs and
>> hire the right people for them.
>>
>> Feel free to share your ideas here or send them to
board at osmfoundation.org
>>
>> Tobias
>> (for the OSMF board)
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> osmf-talk mailing list
>> osmf-talk at openstreetmap.org
>> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk
>
>
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