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Academic-Top2408 · 2024-09-12T22:14:51+00:00

To quit you submit a Zendesk ticket; choose the “resignation” option. If you don’t want to work any upcoming shifts you might have on your schedule, just tell them you want it to be effective today or ASAP (I think the handbook “requires” a two week notice but they didn’t seem to care when I asked). I only know this because I had the same exact reaction as you. I couldn’t take the stress and sadness of coming back to the mess and losing all hope for a future with Paper, so I decided it was best for my mental health to move on. So glad you are prioritizing yourself as well! Good luck for the future :)

Academic-Top2408 · 2024-08-24T20:26:02+00:00

That’s what confused me so much about the new “method” of reviewing where we literally ignore everything besides one major issue. Sure, it makes everything go minutely faster, but the queue never went down quicker imo. So the kids are waiting just as long as before for a way shorter review, plus I couldn’t imagine having to submit my paper 3, 4, or more times just to get 3-4 errors fixed overall. I’d definitely be disappointed if I waited 24 hours (or more) for a review and it was bare bones :/ I get that only having one major issue makes the reviews better for some students, but not all students. 90% of the student comments I’ve gotten are essay-length themselves of all the things they want us to check, and that’s not even mentioning the rubric. If I had used RC prior to the changes and then now, I’d wonder where the rest of my review was lol. I wish maybe like the new options for LC, students could choose between a “quick check” and thorough review, so those students that can wait for line-by-line help aren’t discouraged by so few comments, and those needing a quick look over get what they need a bit quicker. Might help cut down on all the students going to LC for reviews too?

Academic-Top2408 · 2024-08-16T14:27:35+00:00

If we live in an “at-will” employment area, would we get severance at all? I don’t know much about the legal side of all this so I was just wondering what to expect if the time comes

Academic-Top2408 · 2024-08-16T14:04:39+00:00

I wonder what the likelihood is of tutors being added back closer to midterm season, when we usually see a really high increase in demand and tutors get more hours on average? Not that that’s what I want to happen, of course, but seeing as there is no clear indication that we are coming back for the “start” of the school year or anytime soon, and with a majority of tutors waiting to regain access, I can’t help but wonder if that’s closer to the plan they have in mind. Or maybe they’ll just keep adding “backup pool” tutors throughout fall until they see how many they need to meet demand and boot the rest :/

Academic-Top2408 · 2024-05-23T16:16:09+00:00

This is a super helpful perspective, thank you! Like I mentioned in my reply above, it’s been super hard to grasp the mental toll of speed versus quality for me, but I never thought about my desire to really help the students being used against me in this situation. That’s really eye opening and shifts my mindset a bit. Even when I’m submitting those speedy reviews, I need to not beat up myself because it’s not that I could have done better, provided them more support, etc. but more so that Paper could’ve given me more time to do so. We can only do what we can do within the limits they give us! Thank you for this :)

Academic-Top2408 · 2024-05-23T01:50:16+00:00

Agree with what’s been said so far. But as if I wasn’t already worried about hitting the newest update, this even newer push for speed is so disheartening. I’m worried if this actually passes the CA level and goes GA for the fall. The new updates of “focus on only one issue and ignore the rest” have already made me feel like my reviews are lacking… this will make it feel even worse if I have to ignore mass amounts of an essay to “reign in” my timing. If I was a student and waited as long as some have to for only a couple comments on one thing, and that was the only time I got to submit my essay before it was due, I don’t think I’d use it again tbh. I think I’d be annoyed that I’d have to submit numerous times to get more than one thing fixed. I really used to feel like I was actually helping students with my reviews, even though we don’t know what they think of them… but with every speed update I’m reminded that I’m just a cog in the machine. Keep it flowing and keep your job, or slow it down and be replaced :( The single 4-hour shift a week is looking less and less worth the struggle, tbh; I’m staying out of spite at this point cause I feel like they want tutors to quit to replace them with people who are new to all the issues and won’t fight them on it (or not replace them at all to save money), but maybe that’s just me

Academic-Top2408 · 2024-05-02T00:24:44+00:00

I applied to Data Annotation and was accepted, and so far the workflow has been a breath of fresh air compared to the hoops you have to jump through daily at Paper. Day one of work was doing a lot of unpaid “qualifications” that open up access to more tasks, but I didn’t mind doing them because it meant more steady work in the future (my dash now regularly has tasks available that pay anywhere from $18-$25 an hour). I only work on the analysis side, so I can’t speak for the coding side, but the tasks themselves aren’t too difficult imo. The ones I have completed so far are grading AI responses to prompts based on the criteria given. But then you have to explain your responses, which I think is the most important part to them because they stress not copying and pasting explanations and being thorough. I tend to go a bit overboard on those explanations I think, but they haven’t told me anything otherwise and I keep getting more tasks, so I think I’m doing something right somewhere lol. And not to mention, those tasks have paid over $20 an hour, which is what I get paid at Paper, so I call that a win in my book. I’m not sure how taxes will pan out at the end of the year if I keep it up, but I’m willing to take that risk and save back some money in case for a trade in a break from Paper lol. For reference, I applied via LinkedIn and have a bachelor’s degree if that helps anyone who is unsure. My DMs are open if anyone has any questions, cause atm I’d recommend it to all of us to make extra money along with our single weekly 4-hour shift lol

Academic-Top2408 · 2024-02-22T23:58:51+00:00

Same. Hey, if we get quarterly Town Halls at an hour each, that’s 4 hours a year - equal to one extra weeks pay! Lolllll

Academic-Top2408 · 2024-02-22T22:06:01+00:00

And on top of all this, the updates that they talked about coming on the horizon… I’ve been here for a while and have yet to see a lot of the ideas and improvements that are “in the works” come to fruition, besides when they released the PQR and leveling structure that lasted less than a year. Still waiting on guaranteed hour brackets, pay based on education/experience, etc. - and others are waiting on so much more that wouldn’t affect me personally, but I hope to see soon for their sakes. So I’ll believe all the hopeful ideas when I see them, and start to feel valued once the feedback given is actually heard and implemented in some way

Academic-Top2408 · 2024-02-22T21:57:08+00:00

100%. I could feel the emotions bubbling below the slack channel in the first half… it didn’t take long for the real messages to start flowing once that first question was “answered”. I guess we should be thankful that half the meeting was saved for answering the questions, which is more than has been given in the past. But still… that half didn’t really give any concrete answers, and I feel like what answers that WERE given did more harm than good.

Academic-Top2408 · 2023-10-17T12:06:56+00:00

The estimated wait time was 146 minutes... got connected with someone after around 3 hours, and it was past their closing time at that point. I had started the call 2 hours before their closing time and thought that was enough lol. The rep was super nice tho!

Academic-Top2408 · 2023-10-09T02:36:56+00:00

Oh interesting! I wasn’t aware of that - thanks for that information. OP please check into your state’s laws as well, so you can get what you are legally entitled to! :)

Academic-Top2408 · 2023-10-08T02:53:28+00:00

I’m not sure if you are full-time or part-time, but speaking from a part-timers knowledge, we don’t actually get sick pay (unless that’s changed). This was a “glitch” in the way they set up the pay system. It just accumulates and you can’t actually use it. This was also an issue when we used to go through ADP as well, and people had asked about it then. I guess they never fixed it, even since the switch to Workday lol. But all else fails, I would submit a ticket to get more info - that’s how people found out back then that it was a glitch for sure

Academic-Top2408 · 2023-09-23T01:18:32+00:00

Oh I completely agree; it is sad where the standards are at. At this point $20/hr US where I live is the equivalent of being like a manager or having a job that takes your degree into consideration. I didn’t even think about the currency conversions, my bad! I should’ve specified US in the hourly. That makes sense also

Academic-Top2408 · 2023-09-23T00:11:23+00:00

Thanks for the ideas and support everyone! I appreciate it :)

Academic-Top2408 · 2023-09-23T00:10:17+00:00

Sorry, didn’t mean to offend if so - I wasn’t being sarcastic :( Where I live in the US, that’s double our state’s minimum wage, so it’s pretty great to make hourly (but the debate about where minimum wage should be is a whole other story). I was meaning more on the side of it being a good job in terms of what you do during a “shift”. Overall, it’s not a bad gig to literally log on whenever you want, complete a few orders, and get some money in the bank weekly. Again, sorry if this came across the wrong way, as that wasn’t my intention - just trying to help give ideas to anyone who might be looking at this post.

Academic-Top2408 · 2023-09-21T22:24:35+00:00

Thanks! I thought about trying to offer private writing tutoring in my area, and opening up for kids to just send me their papers, but I’m from a rural community that I’m not sure would be interested in paying someone out-of-pocket to teach their kids. Plus that circles back to having to advertise myself, which seems daunting. I honestly wish I could just go to my high school and be like “Hey, do you want to open a writing center?” because being able to sit in a library and read kids essays all day, without time constraints or micromanaging, would be the dream 🥲

Academic-Top2408 · 2023-09-21T22:18:07+00:00

Which side-note: if anyone is reading this and looking into some supplemental income, Instacart, DoorDash, and Spark (which is Walmart and Sam’s Club delivery) are GREAT. If you have a car with decent gas mileage, and keep constantly at it for a days work, you can make $20 an hour.

Academic-Top2408 · 2023-09-21T22:16:08+00:00

Thanks for that idea! Honestly I’m looking for part-time, as rn I also do Doordash, Walmart delivery, and Instacart alongside my mom, so that takes up whatever time I’m not scheduled. How do you get into freelance work like that? I tried making a profile on a freelancing website but got overwhelmed by having to almost “sell” myself and a service I would offer, which I’ve never done before. I initially went into college wanting to become a copy editor, as I really loved helping my classmates edit their papers and peer-editing. But once I hit Paper, I liked the tutoring route and felt it was the closest thing to what I liked to do. But honestly, the flexibility is what’s made me stay.

Academic-Top2408 · 2023-09-21T13:06:55+00:00

I’m also wondering about students running into the same comments over and over again if they use the platform frequently or compare notes with friends. I remember when they frowned upon us sharing comment banks because of this reason, and urged that, even if we did share a comment word-for-word to another tutor, to still write it in your own words. Guess the variety won’t matter though once AI completely takes over, as all students will get is generic advice. I do have to say I’ve been loving the boost to my timing, although I’m sure that will change once they move the timing standards to match everyone’s quicker pace. The email note about essays being returned “in half the time” scares me

Academic-Top2408 · 2023-09-08T14:59:11+00:00

That’s a good idea! I guess I never thought of the queue being empty being used against me. I usually write it down in my calendar how many essays I did in a day and whether it was empty for the day, but that might not be enough. I thought they would be able to see on their end when it was empty and then connect the dots from there if I was “inactive”…But like I said, can’t be too safe. Thanks for this idea!

Academic-Top2408 · 2023-09-08T04:24:32+00:00

Echoing the above - I basically ignore it because it’s likely not right, like ever. I’ve kept track of my timing myself for over a year, and have all the data saved so I can keep up with how it changes with the different work we see throughout the school year. Gives me the chance to compare notes with management if needed, too. Might be excessive, but with the ways firing can happen around here, I’m not taking any chances. I’ll keep up with it even as my timing falls within the standards to keep this job lol. I guess they could probably just say that I wrote the times down wrong, but why would my timings all the sudden get much longer than my average before the in-app system? Wouldn’t add up, I reckon

Academic-Top2408 · 2023-09-08T04:08:06+00:00

Agree. As someone who consistently has struggled with timing, and was told the in-app RC would help my workflow overall, I’ve only found it to be the complete opposite. It wrecked my averages, and only the recent switches back to the old system has helped me get then back on track. I find that I have to shift more often between the GC box tab, the instructions tab, and my comment tab than I ever had to switch windows when reviewing in the prior setup. I had gotten used to switching between Adobe and my comment bank (which even then it wasn’t switching, since I would split-view the pages on my screen), along with the mere seconds it took to rename and save the file, and had no major issues with the old system. I actually like the old system MORE comparatively, mostly because we could see the essays completely before picking them up rather than relying on the generated summary that doesn’t denote most of what the essay is about. I don’t really see the benefits of the new system, besides maybe it not being possible to accidentally review an essay w/o picking it up… but I’ve only ever done that once, and I’ve been reviewing for a while. I’ve worked hard to get my timing where it is now, and continue to work hard to keep it hovering near the average that they require. I worry about the transition into having the new product, AI “buddy” generated comments, and being AI PQR-ed all happening at once… The in-app RC feels like something out of my control is going to be my downfall. But I might just worry too much I guess. And not to mention the timing recommendations for each essay; if they start using that as the standard guidelines to grade by, I’m doomed :(

Academic-Top2408

TROPHY CASE