VAs who are paid hourly will work for a couple hours and then let their computer run the rest of the day rendering, uploading, and doing other things— while billing us the time.
It’s a great way for them to make a lot more money, since they can start that process at the beginning of the day and knowingly get the rest of the day to spend with their family, do errands, play video games— and know they’re making money.
It’s not “dishonest” in their mind– but it’s also not ethical. So the bounty (per task) model will create incentives for them to do the rendering/uploading at the end of the day, while they’re sleeping. And as they earn more money, they can invest in having a second computer.
I’ve made the mistake of buying equipment for people who then run off with it. And even with an agreement that this is company property they need to return– usually they hold onto it.
One even has a couple thousand dollars of camera equipment I bought him– with his repeat insistence that he would create training videos with it. He’s sat on the equipment for a year and hasn’t done anything.
Strong, internal people who have proven their value could get a computer from the company, but it’s far better for them to just earn it by making more money with us. Even virtual assistants can make more than enough to get a big Mac in 2 months of good work, since we’d really be overpaying on performance.
Interesting to see the entitlement mentality– the employee versus founder mindset.
Not something for us to get mad at, but instead, understand and build gamified systems that work to everyone’s advantage.
