Definition
Shared work is work that is not directly compensated and fits one of these descriptions:
- Maintaining or extending official Pavilion software or materials, specifically:
- software tagged official in on paviliondev;
- materials on Pavilion’s Discourse:
- topics in #handbook;
- materials on a standalone Pavilion product or service page; or
- materials tagged official on pavilionedu.
- Providing official Pavilion educational services.
- Being a buddy to new members on trial.
- Participating in meetings or decision making processes of permanent teams.
- Working on projects designated as shared work by a permanent team.
What is not shared work
- Maintaining or extending non-official software or materials
- Pro bono client work
If you’re unsure whether what you’re doing is shared work, reach out to the organisation team for clarification. If you want to expand the definition of shared work raise a policy change proposal for the next general meeting.
Purpose
Members do shared work for three main reasons:
- Building your own professional profile. All your shared work has your name attached and we strive to ensure your involvement is both highlighted and celebrated. Participation in shared work is important in the job market, particularly in technology, and shared work with Pavilion is designed with that focus in mind
- Building and promoting the co-operative’s business, supporting paid project opportunities, and the dividend paid to members. Shared work is our primary marketing mechanism. It’s how customers find us and typically how clients start engaging with us.
- Fulfilling one of the primary goals of the co-operative: to increase the availability of beneficial technology and services to as many as possible.
Goal
Aim to spend about half the time on shared work as you spend on paid work with Pavilion. For the reasons mentioned below in “Baseline” this is not a strict requirement, nor the amount by which the baseline is judged, and you’re not required to time-track your work.
There may be some months where you’re unable to contribute as much shared work due to personal circumstances. There may be others where you can contribute more. Try to aim for a balance in your contributions. If you’ve contributed a lot in one month, you can ease off a bit in the next month.
Baseline
The shared work baseline is a baseline amount of shared work for being a member in the co-operative.
Reason a baseline is necessary
Strictly speaking the baseline is not necessary, as shared work should always be beneficial to both the individual member and the co-operative. It’s not a question of sacrificing your individual needs for the many.
Your shared work is about building your professional profile and building the business that supports you. However some members may sometimes lose sight of that, or find they’re spending more time on other pursuits. It is in those scenarios that the shared work baseline becomes relevant.
Effort and improvement
The shared work baseline is a minimum threshold of effort and improvement that is applied universally to all members, regardless of their focuses, skills, productivity or effectiveness.
Not relative to other members
The shared work threshold is not judged relative to other members, it is judged according to the member in question’s effort and improvement over time.
Evaluative not quantitative
The shared work baseline is evaluative, not quantitative. It is not about tracking how many hours the person has committed to shared work. It’s an evaluation of a member’s effort and improvement relative to that member.