Hi Garfield, many thanks for your answer! On Apr 9, 2015 5:35 PM, "Garfield Byrd" gbyrd@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hi Pine,
I have answered your questions in your email.
Regards,
Garfield
On Thu, Apr 9, 2015 at 12:38 AM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Garfield,
Ok, follow up questions:
- Does WMF have a plan to keep the Foundation and its essential
functions
operational if, say, the San Francisco main building all SF staff are completely offline and unreachable by phone for a week after an
earthquake?
Yes, we have a plan in place in case the building in San Francisco is unavailable. All San Francisco staff will not be offline for a week after an earthquake. Not all staff live in San Francisco, and Loma Prieta
showed
that even a major earthquake does not take the entire San Francisco Bay Area offline. So essential functions will continue even after an earthquake.
In addition, even though many of our staff are in San Francisco, we do
have
staff in many other states and 18 countries.
- Would there be worthwhile advantages to establishing a second main
office
in someplace like the US east coast or Europe?
We have tried to setup a center of activity in other states and it did not prove to be worthwhile, as staff preferred to work from home or other locations. So it was an an additional cost with any additional benefit.
It
is my understanding that having an office outside the United States
creates
complications for Wikipedia and the other Wiki projects in the area of content protection.
To create less headaches about this would it not be better to split up wmf in two, one doing the software at any convenient location, while the other one would own the domains, hosting and money?
Thanks, and please reply when it's convenient for you.
I'll follow up offline with HR about talent pool questions.
Thanks,
Pine On Apr 8, 2015 5:16 PM, "Garfield Byrd" gbyrd@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hi Pine,
If the Foundation decides to move, the cost of making the space usable for our staff is not a recoverable cost from the building owner.
At this point, WMF is not planning on moving out of the San Francisco market area. We will be doing our best to manage cost when we renew
our
lease or move. The advantages of having good access to talented people
and
organizations WMF interacts with far outweigh any advantages to moving
to a
lower cost location outside of the San Francisco market area.
Regards,
Garfield
On Tue, Apr 7, 2015 at 9:58 PM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Garfield,
I'm asking this on Wikimedia-l because a number of Wikimedians have noted the expensiveness of the San Francisco area including its high
cost
of living for staff, employer competition for engineering talent, and associated high salaries for WMF employees.
I see on
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/8/8a/RFP_for_Real_Estate_Se...
that WMF is considering relocating its offices when its current main
office
lease expires.
Questions:
What happens to the remodel expenses that WMF is paying for at its current location? If WMF vacates the premesis, will it be compensated
for
the remodel by the building owner?
I hope that WMF is contemplating fully exiting the San Francisco
market
area in order to economize, get better value for our donors' funds,
have
less competition for talent, and lower costs of living for staff. Is
this
being considered?
Thanks very much,
Pine
-- Garfield Byrd Chief of Finance and Administration Wikimedia Foundation 415.839.6885 ext 6787 415.882.0495 (fax) www.wikimediafoundation.org
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
*https://donate.wikimedia.org https://donate.wikimedia.org/*
-- Garfield Byrd Chief of Finance and Administration Wikimedia Foundation 415.839.6885 ext 6787 415.882.0495 (fax) www.wikimediafoundation.org
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
*https://donate.wikimedia.org https://donate.wikimedia.org/* _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
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