Hi Sofia. I agree that orgs should try to avoid relying on volunteer labor if they can, for the reasons you outline. I don’t agree with your explanation for why the status quo is what it is.
I don’t agree that “EA community’s high use of volunteer labor shows that a lot of EAs don’t relate to the average person in the world who is a couple of paychecks away from being homeless” first of all because I’m not clear on how high that use is, and secondly because the orgs who happen to be using volunteer labor may just be financially constrained. Just because there’s a lot of money in EA doesn’t necessarily mean those particular orgs have that money available to spend.
“For example, most people in EA that I spoke to about me not being able to get a visa were surprised that this is even an issue and many people who organise EA-related events have made plans to make them more accessible to people from more countries.”—this seems to support my point? Those organising the events make plans to make them accessible, i.e. are aware of the issue and taking some (though clearly not all possible) steps to mitigate difficulties for attendees.
That many people not involved in organising events don’t know about all the difficulties potential attendees might have doesn’t seem too important to me, though I’m open to being corrected here? It seems a lot to expect everyone to be knowledgeable about this if it’s not directly related to their work.
Hi Sofia. I agree that orgs should try to avoid relying on volunteer labor if they can, for the reasons you outline. I don’t agree with your explanation for why the status quo is what it is.
I don’t agree that “EA community’s high use of volunteer labor shows that a lot of EAs don’t relate to the average person in the world who is a couple of paychecks away from being homeless” first of all because I’m not clear on how high that use is, and secondly because the orgs who happen to be using volunteer labor may just be financially constrained. Just because there’s a lot of money in EA doesn’t necessarily mean those particular orgs have that money available to spend.
“For example, most people in EA that I spoke to about me not being able to get a visa were surprised that this is even an issue and many people who organise EA-related events have made plans to make them more accessible to people from more countries.”—this seems to support my point? Those organising the events make plans to make them accessible, i.e. are aware of the issue and taking some (though clearly not all possible) steps to mitigate difficulties for attendees.
That many people not involved in organising events don’t know about all the difficulties potential attendees might have doesn’t seem too important to me, though I’m open to being corrected here? It seems a lot to expect everyone to be knowledgeable about this if it’s not directly related to their work.