In a message dated 11/22/2010 11:31:50 AM Pacific Standard Time, wikipedia@frontier.com writes:
On 11/22/2010 10:47 AM, WJhonson@aol.com wrote:
In a message dated 11/22/2010 10:33:53 AM Pacific Standard Time, rkaldari@wikimedia.org writes:
- I believe "Salary and other compensation" includes payment to
contractors, of which we currently have about 20-30 (which aren't counted as employees).>>
Why so many, and contractors generally make much more than employees. Why not get rid of some of those and hire more employees? I know of a lot of people looking for work.
And I know of some positions they're welcome to apply for if they have suitable qualifications: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Job_openings
Aside from that, staffing decisions are not simply something that gets flipped around at will. In some cases, Wikimedia contractors have that status because it would be prohibitively difficult to treat them as employees (some staff located abroad, for example). Others are hired for specific time-limited projects which it makes more sense to do on a contract basis (Eugene Eric Kim for the strategy project, for instance).
Also, the notion that contractors "generally make much more than employees" seems to ignore the fact that this bucket is labeled "Salary *and other compensation* " (meaning things such as health or retirement benefits).
How does 20-30 contractors equate to the 10 open positions listed? It seems short to me.
I don't see what logic there is in stating that having an employee abroad is "prohibitively difficult" but it's not so if they are a contractor. That makes no sense to me.
If WMF is truly adding wages paid to contractors into the "Salary and other compensation" bucket I don't think this is G.A.A.P. Wages paid to contractors should not be treated the same as salary paid to employees for the purpose of annual reports like this. That is, they should not be lumped together in this sort of bucket.
In fact that is one of the very advantages (treating them differently) that many companies use to make their statements adhere more closely to their desired public image.
W