Volunteer payment: member views
From Cmi Spark
This article gives the views of individual CMI Spark members on a controversial issue. Each member has a section allocated to him/her and is requested to only edit within that section
This page is about the views of CMI Spark members on whether Spark members and outsider should get paid for the services they render to Spark. The backdrop can be had at: January 30 meeting: the details: by Vipul#Payment to CMI volunteers.
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STOP THIS
You guys seem to be discussing this seriously. You should all be sent for some serious counseling for even discussing this seriously.
And anyway, whose genius of an idea is it to discuss things on public wikis??? We got public mailing lists for that... Lets keep it that way. Please don't post on this page anymore. I will take it to the floor on our mailing list.
Anshul
Bodhayan
Anirbit
Jayanth
With all due respect, I refuse to read all the technicalities of the discussion. I shall also not participate in any debate because I think we are losing the point. The point is, we are a humble organisation founded for the sole purpose of doing some social good. It has so happened that we chose to educate under-privileged kids. I agree with the fact that there are several organisations that are doing good work in this direction and are paying their volunteers. I do not have problems with other organisations doing such a thing. I have a problem with Spark doing it. I reiterate: "I do not want Spark to pay any kind of remuneration towards any service done by a person or an organisation acting for, or on behalf, of Spark." Pray do not dissect this statement and quibble about the technical aspects. I am sure you all understand what this says in spirit and I hope you do not expect me to draft a Constitution to this effect.
Padma
Vipul
In order to illustrate my general point that volunteers should be paid, I will take up my specific roles and how much I should be paid for them. My specific role as of now are: documentation and maintenance of the wiki, fixing and conducting the meetings, setting advance capital for expenditures and participating in the fund collection drive. For these, I am charging Rs. 20 per month (applicable from the month of February).
I shall present arguments from the viewpoint of: per hour labour costs, utility provided, comparison with other costs, and my need.
Per hour labour costs
Assuming that all these tasks come within the category of unskilled labour, let us estimate how much I am getting paid per hour viz the amount that an unskilled labourer gets paid.
In the last 52 hours, I have spent over eight hours in Spark-related activities (this is discounting for multiplexing). This includes 2 hours in conducting the Spark meeting and some immediate follow-ups(yesterday), 3 hours in documenting it (today, 4:30 - 7:45 with 15 minutes discounted), 1 hour in preparing the Spark agenda and 2 hours in other wiki maintenance activities. 8/52 represents almost 1/6th of my time (which also has to go into attending classes, sleeping, eating, washing clothes, reading courses, my independent reading, wikis, chatting, and many other activities). I think it could qualify as a part-time job.
Assuming that I spend 8 hours per week in Spark-related activities, and taking a month as four weeks, I am spending a total of 32 hours per month in Spark-related activities. A charge of Rs. 20 thus means that I am charging approximately 63 paise per hour of work, which comes to somewhat over 1 paise per minute. Contrast this with the wage labourer in CCCL Hexaware, who gets Rs. 75 per day, and thus, even if he/she works 24 hours a day, is being paid Rs. 3 per hour.
Utility provided
It may be argued that much of the work I do for Spark is redundant, irrelevant, and useless. This is a separate and important issue. Here are just some of the gains that have already been achieved from my work:
- It has drawn more people into Spark. People like Ramprasad, Belliappa etc. who did not attend the meeting got an idea of Spark's activities and hence were able to contribute meaningful suggestions. Others have also been able to get a regular idea of what Spark has been doing even if they were unable to go for the field trips. Harish was also impressed by the work of Spark and he is considering giving some support to it.
- It (the wiki, the meetings organized etc.) can help in coordinating Spark's activities, such as the CCCL Hexaware: list of purchase items and CCCL Hexaware: February 4 session. This coordination may make sure that we can provide more value to the children in a particular session, that we can get the right kind of books for the children, that there are no unnecessary last-minute pressures on us to go and that we can provide better service.
- The meetings with predetermined agendas have (in my opinion) gone far better than previous Spark meetings such as the January 11 meeting. The predetermined agendas lent a lot of structure to the meeting, and made further action points clear.
There are many other ways in which the wiki has been and could be useful.
Comparison with other costs
- One lunch outside for one person: Rs. 25 (as per conservative estimates)
- One bus trip from IMSc to T Nagar (back and forth): Rs. 6
- One phone call: Re. 1.00 (minimum)
- One book for one kid: Rs. 25 (minimum)
- One cloth to wipe the slates: Rs. 5 (minimum)
It is clear that Rs. 20/month doesn't quite compare with any of these costs. If better coordination can save Spark even one outside lunch for one person, Spark has made a net gain of Rs. 5.
My need
It could also be argued that I should not be paid the money since I am not in need of it. Does this mean that if I had been a poor person, then I would have been given the money? How does Spark know I am not poor? How does Spark know that this money will not make a profound difference to my life?
Even if I am not poor, as long as I have a finite amount of wealth, 20 rupees more is an addition. It means that I can feel freer to spend on something that I want, that I may be stinging on, such as a phone call home or may be a drink of butter milk. It may mean that I can take printouts of some things without worrying about the cost. I may not worry about a 19B trip back and forth costing me Rs. 12.
I might make expenses on account of Spark even though I am not sure of being reimbursed. I might buy a Learn Bengali book by saving across two months (since the book costs Rs. 25).
