I am concerned that many projects are being set up in a way that does not follow good governance practices and leaves their members exposed to conflict and unpleasant situations. I would want to encourage people to try to embed themselves in a more formal structure with better resources and HR management. For example, I would be excited about community builders over the world setting a non-profit governance structure, where they are granted explicit rights as workers that encompass mental healthcare and a competent HR department to handle interpersonal conflict. This would arguably be an improvement over the current grant systems, that offers very little job security and care for workers.
Relatedly, I have updated very negatively on the ability of the EA community to solve interpersonal conflict and harassment. This means that I am now recommending aggravated community members to resort to external counsel and support, including psychologists and the police, than to resort to internal resources like the CEA Community Health team.
What is more, these past few months I have understood very viscerally that many people, specially women, are uncomfortable talking publicly about situations that have affected them. This is exacerbated in the case where they are applying for EA jobs or funding. And it hides the magnitude of the community problems.
Before motivating growth in the Spanish-speaking community I would like to see these problems addressed or at least considered. Major obstacles are that 1) there isn’t currently anyone I trust who has availability to take on that project and 2) there isn’t a lot of buy in at the moment for more organized efforts within the community. So I think we will likely just default to the current state of affairs, where we work as an ecosystem of related projects.
It’s really hard to say.
I am concerned that many projects are being set up in a way that does not follow good governance practices and leaves their members exposed to conflict and unpleasant situations. I would want to encourage people to try to embed themselves in a more formal structure with better resources and HR management. For example, I would be excited about community builders over the world setting a non-profit governance structure, where they are granted explicit rights as workers that encompass mental healthcare and a competent HR department to handle interpersonal conflict. This would arguably be an improvement over the current grant systems, that offers very little job security and care for workers.
Relatedly, I have updated very negatively on the ability of the EA community to solve interpersonal conflict and harassment. This means that I am now recommending aggravated community members to resort to external counsel and support, including psychologists and the police, than to resort to internal resources like the CEA Community Health team.
What is more, these past few months I have understood very viscerally that many people, specially women, are uncomfortable talking publicly about situations that have affected them. This is exacerbated in the case where they are applying for EA jobs or funding. And it hides the magnitude of the community problems.
Before motivating growth in the Spanish-speaking community I would like to see these problems addressed or at least considered. Major obstacles are that 1) there isn’t currently anyone I trust who has availability to take on that project and 2) there isn’t a lot of buy in at the moment for more organized efforts within the community. So I think we will likely just default to the current state of affairs, where we work as an ecosystem of related projects.
Thanks for this reflection, appreciate it!