Hi All, KJ Ross here (I am a requester) with a question. Based on several conversations that I have had here in the past week, I am evaluating a new performance based bonus option and would like to get some feedback from workers (those that do and don't work on my hits) on a new bonus structure that I would be able to implement right away. With the holidays coming up, I think it is important to get a bonus structure up and running NOW rather than waiting until we can fully integrate it into our HIT management application. So here are the details. All workers completing 50 hits between Monday and Friday of any week will get a $20 bonus. The math that I am using is as follows: Number of HITS: 50 Base payout of HITS: $0.45 Base payment amount: $22.5 Average time taken: 2.5 hours Bonus amount: $20 Estimated hourly rate: $9/hour Effective payout of HITS: $0.85 Effective payout (bonus + base): $42.5 Average time taken: 2.5 hours Estimated hourly rate: $17/hour Number of people that would have received this bonus last week: 2 For those of you that are familiar with my HITS, what are your thoughts of this bonus structure? With all of the types (and values) of HITS available on the AMT every week, would this compel you to work on my HITS on a regularly? And in case you are wondering, yes, this is something that I would do every week because based on the data that I am seeing, it is more than worth it. Thanks in advance KJ
This would likely result in my coming back to your HITs, yes. And I'm impressed at your willingness to be proactive. The main issue I see is that workers would be disgruntled if suddenly there is such a clamor for your HITs that it becomes hard for anyone to get in 50 per week. I remember that when I used to do them, I'd usually notice them when you had no more than 70 available. As I recall, you only post Monday through Friday, and each day, when they're gone for the day, they're gone. So if my numbers are correct (I'm not saying they are), then at most, 7 workers a week could manage to get your bonus---and probably what would happen is that it'd be fewer than that max, because lots of people would still be getting just a few of your HITs each (nowhere near 50). So you could even get some grumbling about how your bonus is a scam, by people who never can get to 50 in any given week because you just run out beforehand. That might be a possibility to be aware of.
Thank you for the feedback. As far as being proactive, I think that is a requirement at this point. I am sure that many requesters were unaware (just like I was) of how much feedback is/was available online regarding their HITS. Once I found out, it was fairly easy to conclude that being a part of the conversations was much more effective than not participating. Regarding the numbers that you posted, I believe that they are incorrect, but up until September of 2012, they would have been fairly accurate. We now post (on average) between 110 and 150 HITS every day between Monday and Friday only. I see your point about it becoming a problem for multiple workers to get accepted in 50 hits within a given week. I am not sure how to deal with it or how it could be avoided. The general nature of the AMT is that requesters compete with one another for workers and the workers compete with one another for HITS. The scam part bothers me though, because I already am getting regular emails accusing me of mass rejections or cheating the worker in general, which has (and never will be) been the case. To help avoid that, I am not sure that I would publicly promote the bonus, but it is something that I feel would truly be beneficial to both the worker and the requester. We would just send the bonus with a personalized message to each person. If a worker was to get close to the threshold for the bonus, I would find some way to compensate them. Maybe I would even send workers that had more than 30 but less then 50 HITS accepted a bonus of $5 to $10. One of my primary goals is to let the higher quality workers that do our HITS on a consistent basis know that not only do we see your work, we also APPRECIATE it. What are your thoughts on that? KJ
Bonuses sound like a good deal to me. I would still be selective as to which paragraphs I'm rewriting, as some of them are just too far from what you're looking for to get a good rewrite, but it would prompt me to check your HITs more often. I am definitely a fan of requesters (or employers of any type) who reward good workers, as I try to then give the same respect and help back to requesters who are good to work with. It is definitely a two way street.
Well said! Thanks for correcting me on your current numbers. That's useful to know. Some Turkers can be quick to shout about being scammed when any rejections are given. This is a problem with TurkOpticon also---workers will typically rate a requester as poor if a rejection was given, even if they did not follow directions or submitted subpar work. I'm not saying workers generally deserve rejections, just that IMO, workers' bias in ratings overwhelmingly tends to be that rejections indicate a bad requester, while the question of whether the rejection was warranted is typically ignored. As I said in a previous thread of yours, I stopped doing your HITs partly because I wasn't getting a sense that my work was actually appreciated, and for me, the canned positive feedback lost its ability to motivate. I do recognize that it's time consuming to send a personalized message to everyone whose work you appreciate, and I think that a bonus structure is the next best thing! A tiered bonus is even fairer, and if you do have the time to add a personalized message for only those few who earn the bonus, all the better. Finally, not promoting it in the HIT and giving it out just to those who have already reached your set levels may not seem fair on the surface (lack of transparency), but realistically, it's probably the best way to both motivate your best workers (who will certainly notice when they get the bonus) and also avoid accusations of scamming from those who might become bitter that they saw the bonus offered but didn't get one. In this case, for PR reasons, I think lack of transparency is trumped by the ability to pleasantly surprise your good workers who earn the bonus---especially if you tier it, to be able to spread the reward out a bit more and motivate a few extra folks. In any case, if you publicize the matter on forums like this one, you've made some effort to mention that it's out there. So it sounds workable to me! Oh, and starting before the holidays is clever, as well, to help people get into the habit of doing your HITs. With everyone saving up to buy gifts, it's a good time to get new workers interested in the prospect of earning more. ETA: Tiering could also be stackable, so that you can still give the maximum total bonus of $20 a week to workers who do get to 50 approved HITs. That will avoid having people stop sooner because they know there's no more bonus to be had.
Yes, my HITS are listed under KJ Ross and the direct link to see them is https://www.mturk.com/mturk/searchbar?selectedSearchType=hitgroups&requesterId=AZXMGKXWBJ26X