[Foundation-l] Corporate Social Responsibility

[WJhonson at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/22/2010 11:31:50 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
wikipedia at frontier.com writes:


> On 11/22/2010 10:47 AM, WJhonson at aol.com wrote:
> > In a message dated 11/22/2010 10:33:53 AM Pacific Standard Time,
> > rkaldari at 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