Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: shared work agreements in cohousing communities

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On May 20, 2004, at 2:26 PM, Tree Bressen wrote:
> >Aye, there's the rub. If one person is doing an average of 20 hours 
> (per
> > month) and another is doing less than 1 hour (per month), that's a
> > circumstance that could lead to worry and discontent.
>
> Yes.  I don't personally mind doing 2x as much as the lowest 
> contributor, but 3x was too much for me, at least after the past year 
> or two.

This is an interesting way to look at work commitments that might work 
for a lot of people. 2X is fine but 3X is too much. Some people will 
always do more because they care more or the tasks suit them more or 
whatever. But the community can't exist without a minimal number of 
economic contributors so there will always be a range that is wider 
than can be filled by people who agree to do equal amounts of work. 
It's also too hard to determine "equal" but 2X and 3X have a feeling 
level that might work well.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org