[hackerspaces] Paid Staff

[justin corwin]

At Crashspace we have avoided paid staff except for one time unavoidable
work (lawyer reviewing non profit paperwork, etc). We have done a very
successful intern program, where we give a free membership to an
enthusiastic person in exchange for them pitching in on cleaning,
administrative tasks. Most interns went on to be very productive normal
members afterwards. (in fact, thinking of it we should really get our next
one in).

It helps that we have stayed around 100 members for a while, and most
people know each other very well. Everyone wants a clean space and things
to keep moving forward. We have an elected Board that makes most of the
decisions, and officers empowered to spend a little money and throw stuff
out as needed.

On Fri, Aug 19, 2016 at 10:23 AM, Chad Elish <chad at hackpittsburgh.org>
wrote:

> I can’t agree more with getting some type of automation up. It’s a game
> changer! it’s easy to track 10 - 20 people. But when you get above the 30
> mark it gets difficult fast!
>
> HackPGH is working with Sector67 to implement some of their amazing
> automation scripts/techniques with our space. In the end, we’ll have Member
> Management, Door and Tool access control, as well as member managed
> events/calendar and tool and membership billing. Everything runs off of
> Wordpress and WooCommerce.
>
> There was a great message thread that happened a few months ago that
> describes all of the different automation tools that different spaces use.
> It’s a long read but very informative.
>
> Cheers!
> -Chad
> President | HackPGH
> Pittsburgh’s First Makerspace
> *http://www.hackpittsburgh.org <http://www.hackpittsburgh.org>*
>
> On Aug 19, 2016, at 12:03 PM, Robert Davidson <robert at dallasmakerspace.org>
> wrote:
>
> Dallas Makerspace has 1,300 members and we have no full time staff and
> zero employees.
>
> We do have a porter that cleans 8 hours a day for 3 days a week. (We found
> it was cheaper to have someone 8 hours than occasional weekly cleanings)
> (We pay a company for this service so no contractor/employee status)
> We are transitioning over to a bookkeeper/accounting firm now to handle
> documentation for our books.  (Paid Service)
> We use a company called parks pantry that provide kitchen services (Think
> gas station food and drinks with a kiosk to pay)
>
> One of the reasons I believe we have been able to grow as large as we have
> without paid support is automation.
>
> Automate everything that is possible:
>
> Member Management
> Access Control
> Calendar
> Billing
>
> On OSHA I have heard it said under 10 employees and depending on your
> classification there are partial exemptions, I would call the inspector and
> just ask.
>
> Hope that helps.
>
> Robert Davidson
> Dallas Makerspace
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 19, 2016 at 10:31 AM, Chad Elish <chad at hackpittsburgh.org>
> wrote:
>
>> I agree with Pete… As soon as you add Paid Employees, it changes the
>> business (and culture) significantly.
>>
>> HackPGH has a policy that we charge $30/mo and require a minimum 3 hours
>> of volunteer time per month… Wether that is working on a group shop project
>> or cleaning the space, our members are required to help out.
>>
>> Rather then actively track the time because that would be a logistical
>> nightmare, we work on the honor system. The first rule of our shop is
>> ‘Don’t be a Dick’ (Heres a great book
>> <https://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Be-Dick-Etiquette/dp/1936976021/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471620300&sr=8-1&keywords=how+not+to+be+a+dick>)
>> or for the others, ‘Be excellent to each other’. If we see people not
>> giving back to the community, we call them out. If it continues, we put
>> them on probation, and in extreme cases ask them to leave.
>>
>> Doing it this way, we see a stronger community develop, friendships made
>> and the shop stays clean.
>>
>> Cheers!
>> -Chad
>> President | HackPGH
>> Pittsburgh’s First Makerspace
>> *http://www.hackpittsburgh.org <http://www.hackpittsburgh.org/>*
>>
>> On Aug 19, 2016, at 10:59 AM, webmind <webmind at puscii.nl> wrote:
>>
>> On 19/08/16 12:41, Bill Shaw wrote:
>>
>> As Tampa Hackerspace approaches 100 members, we're starting to look
>> forward for the best ways to handle growth and scaling without driving
>> ourselves crazy. One thing we're considering is whether it makes sense
>> to have someone on payroll to take care of some basic things.
>>
>> For the more established and larger spaces out there, I'm curious how
>> many members you had when you added your first paid staff. What was your
>> overall budget at the time? Were they part time or full time? What
>> responsibilities did they have?
>>
>>
>> Technologia Incognita (one of the hackerspaces in Amsterdam) has about
>> 100 members, never had paid staff. We have considered paying someone to
>> clean, but a majority of people was against. I think we have paid
>> someone once to clean the windows.
>>
>> Personally, to me hackerspaces are community projects where you run a
>> space as a community. Not some rich-kids playground who are afraid of a
>> bit of dirty work once in a while. That's what I think about when I
>> think of paid staff.
>>
>> w.
>>
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-- 
Justin Corwin
outlawpoet at gmail.com
http://programmaticconquest.tumblr.com
http://outlawpoet.tumblr.com
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