Bonuses/prizes/support for critically situated or talented workers
Empowering Exceptional People
Work that advances society should be rewarded and compensated at fair market value. Unfortunately, rewards are often incommensurate, delayed or altogether unrealized. We’d be excited to see a funding process that 1) identifies work that’s under appreciated by or insulated from the market and 2) provides incentives for workers/teams to stay put and complete said work.
EA often focuses on building new organizations to solve problems, but talented people are already situated within organizations that can foster real change. In government, academia, large legacy companies and non-profits, incentives are usually in the form of slowly accrued assets like prestige, job security or future private sector paydays. Unfortunately, these are also organizations that are tasked with addressing urgent matters such as climate change, pandemics, housing shortages, etc.
How do we incentivize important work outside of the market’s reach? How do we incentivize talented but poorly compensated workers to stay at essential but bureaucratic organizations that are optimally positioned to foster change?
Challenge Prizes: Small to medium sized prizes or donations for the completion of work that’s going too slowly. This provides a market signal that stresses urgency in no uncertain terms. This is similar to moonshots but more immediate/focused/localized.
Bonuses: Set up externally funded performance bonuses for well-placed individuals that are at low-paying but important organizations. Or external signing bonuses for obtaining high-leverage roles in these institutions.
Coddling Services: Basically, personal assistant services for identified high-performing individuals that could use more time focusing (this is similar to an idea already posted by @JanBrauner).
Bonuses/prizes/support for critically situated or talented workers
Empowering Exceptional People
Work that advances society should be rewarded and compensated at fair market value. Unfortunately, rewards are often incommensurate, delayed or altogether unrealized. We’d be excited to see a funding process that 1) identifies work that’s under appreciated by or insulated from the market and 2) provides incentives for workers/teams to stay put and complete said work.
EA often focuses on building new organizations to solve problems, but talented people are already situated within organizations that can foster real change. In government, academia, large legacy companies and non-profits, incentives are usually in the form of slowly accrued assets like prestige, job security or future private sector paydays. Unfortunately, these are also organizations that are tasked with addressing urgent matters such as climate change, pandemics, housing shortages, etc.
How do we incentivize important work outside of the market’s reach? How do we incentivize talented but poorly compensated workers to stay at essential but bureaucratic organizations that are optimally positioned to foster change?
Challenge Prizes: Small to medium sized prizes or donations for the completion of work that’s going too slowly. This provides a market signal that stresses urgency in no uncertain terms. This is similar to moonshots but more immediate/focused/localized.
Bonuses: Set up externally funded performance bonuses for well-placed individuals that are at low-paying but important organizations. Or external signing bonuses for obtaining high-leverage roles in these institutions.
Coddling Services: Basically, personal assistant services for identified high-performing individuals that could use more time focusing (this is similar to an idea already posted by @JanBrauner).