We’ve noted a few times in passing on this blog that it sometimes feels like the Gawker websites are determining how media will look online going forward. But today it looks like Gawker is taking one step closer to the mainstream, or at least how the mainstream used to look.

Advertising

Earlier today The Awl reported that Gawker had decided to give employees at the company’s multiple blogs the option between going full-time or staying as contract workers — most of the bloggers who currently work what can be considered full-time hours are currently paid as contract workers.

Paying employees who put in full-time hours as contract workers is fairly common practice — increasingly so these days with the economy being what it is, even so some found the timing of this decision interesting. We caught up with Gawker head earlier today who told us that the decision was a practical one.

“Our bloggers were drifting into full-time employment,” Denton told us via chat, “they’d start out intending to use the blog as

a platform for magazine freelancing (and eventually a job) and they’d be working at home, but the job is pretty all-consuming.” (Yes it is!) “Also, we wanted to recognize that some of our bloggers were evolving into full-time reporters.”

Moreover, Denton says that if Gawker is interested in getting the best reporters from the print world, many of whom are looking to get out before the ship sinks entirely (John Cook and Irin Carmon recently joined the ranks of Gawker and Jezebel respectively) he has to have something to offer them. “If we’re to hire the best of the print refugees, we have to be able to offer benefits to full-time reporters.”

So there you have it, want paycheck security and a mostly tear-free tax season? Get yourself to the Gawker offices. One can only hope that TimeWarner, Conde Nast, Viacom, and the New York Times take note.

Related:
Gawker Media Goes Legit [The Awl]

Tags: Choire Sicha, Gawker, Irin Carmon, John Cook, Nick Denton, The Awl