3 ms·

> The ones in control of money and the ones in charge of running their lab and hiring postdocs are not the same people. Does this disconnect happen in other sp

> The ones in control of money and the ones in charge of running their lab and hiring postdocs are not the same people. Does this disconnect happen in other spending decisions? For example does the maintenance department ask the administrators for money for new lightbulbs that cost $1 each and the administrators ask them to buy them for 25c instead, even if they aren't available for that price? How can you even decide what to pay someone without looking at what the market says? Just pick a random number? If you're going to do that why not try to literally pay minimum wage?

ProjectArcturis 4y ago
In the case of postdocs specifically, the PI's money comes from grants, which specify how much the postdocs can be paid. That's the limitation -- funding agencies, and the NIH pay guidelines in particular.
quantum_magpie 4y ago
With postdoc salaries the issue is that they are set by the governing bodies. I don't have my contract on hand ( I'm a research associate, but it's similar for postdocs), but it's set as some multiplier of minimum monthly wage. The maintenance funds part is where it gets even worse actually! As an example when you write a grant proposal, they are usually for 2-3 years. You may want to buy some piece of equipment with those funds, and that's fine. However you can't earmark some if that money for future maintenance of that equipment after the grant period ends. Then, when you apply for the next grant, on most occasions, you can't ask money for maintenance of old equipment. And once it breaks, there's enormous hurdles to overcome to get money for repairs.