
Supporting civic engagement with paid time off - jchrisa
https://fauna.com/blog/supporting-civic-engagement
======
SamBam
I was going to make this its own "Ask HN:" post earlier, but thought I'd post
it here instead:

Is there a good central resource or listserv or something for developers who
would like to volunteer their time on political projects?

I'm thinking of a jobs board that says "This organization is looking for a few
hours of help on their website," or a combined Git Issues board, or something.

Reasoning: I am a developer who would like to volunteer my skill set for 3-4
hours a week to causes I support, but I have no idea which organizations could
use 3-4 hours a week.

I imagine that there are many others like me, who may vary in the number of
hours they are willing to donate.

~~~
John23832
[https://www.debugpolitics.com/](https://www.debugpolitics.com/)

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a_j_c
Will this policy cover those who want to support Trump, oppose immigration, or
support right-wing religious positions that most people find unpalatable?

It'll be interesting to see how this pans out...

~~~
__jal
Joining the chorus to say, why on earth not? And what in the announcement made
you think that there was some litmus test?

This might earn me down votes, but it is an honest question. I understand that
a segment of the population, accustomed to their status as "default human",
feel like they're losing that, and I can empathize. (In fact, I am a member of
that cohort wrt most checklist identity-traits people think of.) I also
understand that folks with minority viewpoints are used to never seeing their
preferred policy implemented. (Again, this describes me; many of my policy
preferences are anathema to the majority, just along different dimensions than
Trump voters I know.) And I understand this election was a lot more
acrimonious than, I think, any in living memory.

That said, the question is about the (to me) bizarre defensiveness of Trump
voters. Your team won, and has a freer hand than most presidents ever get. Why
are you pretending you're oppressed?

~~~
splat
I'm not in any way a Trump supporter or on the right more generally, but I can
see why people on the right might be skeptical. The tech community did, after
all, run Brendan Eich out on a rail when they discovered that he donated $1000
in favor of Prop. 8. I think they know that, while they may be in the majority
nation-wide, in the tech community they are a small, reviled minority. And if
they work for political campaigns they support, there will be social, and
potentially business, repercussions.

It seems a little to me like get-out-the-vote campaigns. They're dressed up as
some totally non-partisan, civic-duty enterprise. But if you're targeting your
efforts towards demographics that you _know_ are generally going to vote a
certain way, can you really claim with a straight face that you're not helping
a particular political party? Here you know a priori that you'll be
encouraging people to get involved in politics with a certain bent. I'll point
out that none of this is bad, per se, but I think it's why you can expect
conservatives to react defensively.

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evanweaver
We're small but we're talking to some very big companies about getting on
board as well. Please encourage your leadership to join us!

The policy is for everyone; regardless of viewpoint or affiliation. Civic
engagement benefits us all.

~~~
nickff
In what sense? Politics usually brings out the worst in people, contrary to
what the early proponents of democracy believed. Most people believe that
their opponents are mean, greedy, and stupid, or at least fools who have been
taken by clever propaganda.[1]

[1] [http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11324722-the-righteous-
mi...](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11324722-the-righteous-mind)

~~~
zelon88
Without disagreeing with you that politics brings out the worst in people; how
do you propose our government should operate without civic engagement? Which
feedback mechanisms would government have to determine what its people are
looking for?

~~~
vkou
The government generally knows what its people are looking for. When it acts
against their interests, it is not because it doesn't know any better.

------
empath75
Be aware that there may be legal ramifications for paying your employees to
work on political campaigns.

~~~
SamBam
If it's a form of paid vacation, I don't see why it would matter. There aren't
any legal ramifications (afaik) for companies whose employees volunteer to do
political work during their paid vacations.

So long as they aren't asking for proof that you really did do political work,
I see this as more of a trust-based statement that you did something "civic"
during your paid vacation.

~~~
dragonwriter
If a "form of paid vacation" is available only for campaign work, or granted
preferentially for campaign work, then it is substantially different than
people taking vacation that the company grants neutrally and choosing to work
on a campaign during that vacation.

~~~
jchrisa
I work at Fauna, and the first thing that came to mind at my house is
volunteering in my kids' school. I'm in the habit of doing my political
organizing on evenings and weekends, but that doesn't work for all civic
engagement.

------
cpr
More virtue-signaling from the Silicon Valley groupthink...

~~~
omegaworks
Babble babble babble.

Can babby be more constructive?

------
kindarooster
Not that I think this is a bad idea but by the current nature of tech it's
somewhat biased. Give more educated white males more time to participate in
politics.

I would rather see the money spent on time off go to compensating part-time
working minorities to participate in politics.

~~~
LordKano
I'm an educated(M.S.), full time working, CIS, male, hetero, minority. Doesn't
my voice contribute to diversity too?

~~~
kindarooster
Like or or not, a policy like this unfairly amplifies the voice of the
majority and weakens your voice as a minority due to the nature of tech
companies.

A fund that dispersed compensation to people in a way that properly reflects
the diversity of this country would be more fair. Tech companies and their
workers do not represent the diversity of this country. That's all I'm saying.

Specify part-time working minorities was probably a little too specific, but
these people represent a large portion of the population and I don't know how
one is supposed to participate in politics when one is having trouble making
rent.

~~~
wry_discontent
Somebody's trying to help? Better find an unhelpful way to complain about it.

~~~
kindarooster
One of the huge underlying issues here as a country is lack of understanding
and communication across groups. If I was trying to help, but I was actually
doing something that hurts out of ignorance, then I hope someone would point
it out to me.

Again, I think the intentions are good but the execution has unconsidered side
effects.

~~~
eaceaser
I think the answer to this is to do more to educate the individuals who will
take advantage of this policy so that the actions they take help give a voice
to or amplify the voice of part-time working minorities or other marginalized
groups.

In other words, I believe we should laud all attempts to build a culture of
civic engagement, no matter what your political beliefs are or your personal
background. The next step is to help find ways for that civic engagement to be
generally helpful rather than harmful.

full disclosure: i work at one of the companies named on this proposal

------
shanemhansen
Walmartlabs offers 3 days of paid VTO (volunteer time off). I'm not sure if
political work would actually count, I believe it has to be a 501c3 charity in
one of 5 pretty broad categories (hunger, poverty, women's rights, etc).

