Broadly speaking, I am sceptical that this is tractable or desirable.
Whilst I A) belive city and national groups will be absolutely vitally important B) impact from community building can be significantly reduced by an early departure. I also believe i) this is unlikely to change, increasing salaries won’t help ii) long term employees may stagnate and prevent future growth.
One reason to think ii) is because “churn” in economics is seen as largely healthy (IIRC) - this may be something to do with stagnation, which can occur both to employees and organisations. We should expect a competitive and dynamic labour market, just like a competitive and dynamic industry, to have lots of movement, as different people flourish, stagnate and decline at different times.
Second reason for ii) if groups will gain funding or impact, then personal fit for employees (and talent pool that could work at the organisation) will change. A good example for this would be myself, its plausible that I was the best person for my CB job, because nobody else wanted the role (to my knowledge). But if the organisation gains significant funding and multiple employees, this could change. Having me seat-sitting, demanding a larger salary whilst having a poor grasp of the native language seems suboptimal. It’s also possible that my competive advantages involve running or founding smaller organisations.
Some reasons I believe i) demographic EAs are academic, and likely to have families who value academic roles. I think there is tremendous pressure to get a job that your personal network will respect. I see this a lot with why people study to become medical doctors or PhDs . If your a CB, you’ll mostly be doing: communications and event planning, 1-1 career guidance, ops, ect., And none of this seems likely to hit the “academic” spot that a lot of people are after. Put shortly, money won’t help because it’s more important that people think your earning a lot of money, rather than actually earning a lot of money.
Some notes on how to improve the role: 1) more secure funding would certainly make me happier 2) having a representative from the CBG grant, or the “wider ea world” to make themselves present to my team (as you do Ville) can be extremely helpful, because its possible for less experienced voices to be (relatively) overrepresented when it comes to key strategy decisions. 3) job titles matter, as suggested by Peter. We should probably immediately stop using the “community builder” job title.
I’m not sure I’ve ever heard churn in a positive context, but I agree that economists believe that it’s good that people change job roles a decent amount. Though I think they see a big difference between role changes and leaving an industry entirely. If people quit their jobs because they get advance and get a better job in the sector that’s great. If they leave the sector because they don’t see a future in it that’s a very bad sign for the sector.
Broadly speaking, I am sceptical that this is tractable or desirable.
Whilst I A) belive city and national groups will be absolutely vitally important B) impact from community building can be significantly reduced by an early departure. I also believe i) this is unlikely to change, increasing salaries won’t help ii) long term employees may stagnate and prevent future growth.
One reason to think ii) is because “churn” in economics is seen as largely healthy (IIRC) - this may be something to do with stagnation, which can occur both to employees and organisations. We should expect a competitive and dynamic labour market, just like a competitive and dynamic industry, to have lots of movement, as different people flourish, stagnate and decline at different times.
Second reason for ii) if groups will gain funding or impact, then personal fit for employees (and talent pool that could work at the organisation) will change. A good example for this would be myself, its plausible that I was the best person for my CB job, because nobody else wanted the role (to my knowledge). But if the organisation gains significant funding and multiple employees, this could change. Having me seat-sitting, demanding a larger salary whilst having a poor grasp of the native language seems suboptimal. It’s also possible that my competive advantages involve running or founding smaller organisations.
Some reasons I believe i) demographic EAs are academic, and likely to have families who value academic roles. I think there is tremendous pressure to get a job that your personal network will respect. I see this a lot with why people study to become medical doctors or PhDs . If your a CB, you’ll mostly be doing: communications and event planning, 1-1 career guidance, ops, ect., And none of this seems likely to hit the “academic” spot that a lot of people are after. Put shortly, money won’t help because it’s more important that people think your earning a lot of money, rather than actually earning a lot of money.
Some notes on how to improve the role: 1) more secure funding would certainly make me happier 2) having a representative from the CBG grant, or the “wider ea world” to make themselves present to my team (as you do Ville) can be extremely helpful, because its possible for less experienced voices to be (relatively) overrepresented when it comes to key strategy decisions. 3) job titles matter, as suggested by Peter. We should probably immediately stop using the “community builder” job title.
I’m not sure I’ve ever heard churn in a positive context, but I agree that economists believe that it’s good that people change job roles a decent amount. Though I think they see a big difference between role changes and leaving an industry entirely. If people quit their jobs because they get advance and get a better job in the sector that’s great. If they leave the sector because they don’t see a future in it that’s a very bad sign for the sector.
Really appreciate the pushback! Would be keen to hear more about your thoughts and I’ll set up a meeting.