TLDR: Outsource tasks that do not require critical thinking or lead to growth within EA to EA group-vetted contractors in emerging economies and encourage others to do so too. Require some understanding of EA ideas (e. g. intro program) for non-leadership tasks with opportunities for growth in EA-related work independence. Only highly engaged community members should develop strategies and lead thoughts and narratives.
1) Would you consider outsourcing to specialists with strong discipline-specific skills who are vetted by EA groups in emerging economies (Pakistan, India, …)? This can reduce costs, increase efficiencies, and even enable people to run a part-time project alongside a full-time job, if the wage differential is 5x.
The vetting may be key to prevent reputational loss risk related to the nature of EA work, for example if a graphic designer wants their suffering neighbors to be assisted first, regardless of the cost-effectiveness, or knows that a family celebration has to have meat (so reducing meat consumption is against families) (these are illustrative claims).
2) Why would you not employ EA community members (rather than non-EA freelancers), if there are those interested in such work? There may be persons in high purchasing power nations with low nominal wage alternatives looking for employment. Also, depending on the definition of an EA community member, this can be relatively facile (or affordable) to achieve (for example, if you pay someone (upon application to check if they are there for impact) to participate for 20 hours in the Intro to EA fellowship, also to increase their productivity).
Would you seek to employ persons looking for growth within EA, including within their specialization, or rather those who would have limited ability or willingness to further upskill? If this depends on the role, how would you ensure that persons who seek to advance EA are supported in such, those seeking to increase their employment compensation and security can do that while prioritizing EA work but being independent on it, and those seeking or able to just keep an entry-level position (e. g. data entry, online search) can do that?
3) How will you assess position core-competencyness requirements? I judge that this relates to the person’s internalization of EA objectives (e. g. actually altruistic and seeking effectiveness) - but, perhaps the central meta-question is: what if someone can exhibit this internalization at work but all they care about is to have a good job to pursue their goals (such as happy family, buying a nice car, …), what is their position within or around the community?
Relatedly, is there a list of some tasks that you would outsource to ‘external’ labeled contractors, less engaged community members, and highly engaged members? I would estimate:
External: field officer work of EA-related charities that does not require problem solving or critical thinking (such as distributing bednets, enumerating whether bednet is hanging, …), data entry and management or personal assistance for EA non-decisionmakers and non-influencers (making spreadsheet look better, re-posting content, …)
Less engaged: field officer work that would benefit from critical thinking on higher impact (e. g. enumerating whether bednet is hanging and seeing why people do not use them, what their priorities are and how they can be better assisted with equal resources), assistance to EA decisionmakers or influencers (e. g. making spreadsheets look better while learning about further possibilities to do good within the organization or its cause area, drafting content based on discussions, …)
Highly engaged: strategic planning, thought, and narrative leadership (e. g. what should we do about regions that experience malaria and other issues that is most cost-effective but is also well-received locally, what kind of AI safety image should be designed to limit reputational loss risk of companies that profit from AI advancement for a poster, …)
In general I do have a preference for hiring people involved in EA. Among other things, these people are easier to vet (as you remark).
When I hire contractors who are not EA’s (including those in developing countries), it’s usually because we need a specific skill set and can’t easily find EA’s with that skill set.
The breakdown you list at the bottom of your comment seems approximately similar to how I think about how easy work is to outsource.
Ok, that makes sense. Then, just encourage people to be flexibly hirable?
This can be minor but I was also making this comment for an event feedback: is there some staff that should be considered external to the community, such as ‘dead-end’ professions who are not interested in self-development, such as cloakroom staff? As in, you would not make a community member to specialize in carrying coats (or some other brainless, especially manual, work, unless it involves skilled emotional work)? (This is not to say that e. g. cloakroom person cannot be active in EA, if they are e. g. working part-time and reading about EA-related topics.) But, this is an argument for a preference for hiring non-EA involved people (or working with companies that contract staff). I am actually realizing that if it is possible, even persons who carry coats may be able to entertain one on ‘hmm I know this brand, they are sourcing environmentally and socially sustainable materials, but it looks funny’ etc.
TLDR: Outsource tasks that do not require critical thinking or lead to growth within EA to EA group-vetted contractors in emerging economies and encourage others to do so too. Require some understanding of EA ideas (e. g. intro program) for non-leadership tasks with opportunities for growth in EA-related work independence. Only highly engaged community members should develop strategies and lead thoughts and narratives.
1) Would you consider outsourcing to specialists with strong discipline-specific skills who are vetted by EA groups in emerging economies (Pakistan, India, …)? This can reduce costs, increase efficiencies, and even enable people to run a part-time project alongside a full-time job, if the wage differential is 5x.
The vetting may be key to prevent reputational loss risk related to the nature of EA work, for example if a graphic designer wants their suffering neighbors to be assisted first, regardless of the cost-effectiveness, or knows that a family celebration has to have meat (so reducing meat consumption is against families) (these are illustrative claims).
2) Why would you not employ EA community members (rather than non-EA freelancers), if there are those interested in such work? There may be persons in high purchasing power nations with low nominal wage alternatives looking for employment. Also, depending on the definition of an EA community member, this can be relatively facile (or affordable) to achieve (for example, if you pay someone (upon application to check if they are there for impact) to participate for 20 hours in the Intro to EA fellowship, also to increase their productivity).
Would you seek to employ persons looking for growth within EA, including within their specialization, or rather those who would have limited ability or willingness to further upskill? If this depends on the role, how would you ensure that persons who seek to advance EA are supported in such, those seeking to increase their employment compensation and security can do that while prioritizing EA work but being independent on it, and those seeking or able to just keep an entry-level position (e. g. data entry, online search) can do that?
3) How will you assess position core-competencyness requirements? I judge that this relates to the person’s internalization of EA objectives (e. g. actually altruistic and seeking effectiveness) - but, perhaps the central meta-question is: what if someone can exhibit this internalization at work but all they care about is to have a good job to pursue their goals (such as happy family, buying a nice car, …), what is their position within or around the community?
Relatedly, is there a list of some tasks that you would outsource to ‘external’ labeled contractors, less engaged community members, and highly engaged members? I would estimate:
External: field officer work of EA-related charities that does not require problem solving or critical thinking (such as distributing bednets, enumerating whether bednet is hanging, …), data entry and management or personal assistance for EA non-decisionmakers and non-influencers (making spreadsheet look better, re-posting content, …)
Less engaged: field officer work that would benefit from critical thinking on higher impact (e. g. enumerating whether bednet is hanging and seeing why people do not use them, what their priorities are and how they can be better assisted with equal resources), assistance to EA decisionmakers or influencers (e. g. making spreadsheets look better while learning about further possibilities to do good within the organization or its cause area, drafting content based on discussions, …)
Highly engaged: strategic planning, thought, and narrative leadership (e. g. what should we do about regions that experience malaria and other issues that is most cost-effective but is also well-received locally, what kind of AI safety image should be designed to limit reputational loss risk of companies that profit from AI advancement for a poster, …)
In general I do have a preference for hiring people involved in EA. Among other things, these people are easier to vet (as you remark).
When I hire contractors who are not EA’s (including those in developing countries), it’s usually because we need a specific skill set and can’t easily find EA’s with that skill set.
The breakdown you list at the bottom of your comment seems approximately similar to how I think about how easy work is to outsource.
Ok, that makes sense. Then, just encourage people to be flexibly hirable?
This can be minor but I was also making this comment for an event feedback: is there some staff that should be considered external to the community, such as ‘dead-end’ professions who are not interested in self-development, such as cloakroom staff? As in, you would not make a community member to specialize in carrying coats (or some other brainless, especially manual, work, unless it involves skilled emotional work)? (This is not to say that e. g. cloakroom person cannot be active in EA, if they are e. g. working part-time and reading about EA-related topics.) But, this is an argument for a preference for hiring non-EA involved people (or working with companies that contract staff). I am actually realizing that if it is possible, even persons who carry coats may be able to entertain one on ‘hmm I know this brand, they are sourcing environmentally and socially sustainable materials, but it looks funny’ etc.