Darren Boon / Reporting Head
A win-win situation in this worsening economic climate: companies reduce labour costs by hiring unsalaried interns while these intern hopefuls seeking industry experience learn the trade and may actually get their big break.
MAX (not his real name), a tertiary student in his early twenties, has been on an unpaid industrial attachment over the last few weeks.
But he does not have a choice, as the deadline to apply for the industrial internship had been looming. He works between 8 to 10 hours daily for a small firm in the creative industry.
(Photo: Are interns exploited at the office? Courtesy of Bryan Fenstermacher.)
“I actually requested for [reimbursement of] expenses but was denied. I am currently not paid for any transport, which is killing me,” Max said.
However Max is still thankful for this chance to build up his portfolio in the creative industry: “Although I am working for free, the company actually exposed me to various opportunities and the chance to really see what the industry is really like.”
“But opportunities don’t translate into money…money is required for survival,” Max said.
Like Max, 22-year-old student Derrick Tan does not mind an unpaid internship as long it opens up future job and industrial opportunities for him.
Asia City Publishing, an intra-Asian publishing company had put out a recruitment notice for interns in the May 22 edition of I-S Magazine, a free pick-up weekly publication.
(Photo: the advertisement in the magazine. Courtesy of Darren Boon.)
Note the disclaimer on the advertisements: “This is an unsalaried position; expenses will be covered”.
This reporter attended an interview for the position of editorial intern on Thursday, June 4 and took the opportunity to quiz the interviewer, a senior writer with the company on the reimbursement of expenses.
The interviewer said that while the company will reimburse for all expenses incurred by the intern on company businesses or jobs, there was no indication during the interview that the company will pay for commuting expenses to-and-fro from the intern’s home and company.
When asked over the phone last Tuesday on whether the commuting expenses of the intern will be compensated, the interviewer said: “I don’t think so.”
The intern needs to be present in the office for a minimum of four days a week from 10am to 530pm – five when the workload gets heavy – for a minimum of two to three months to “get the best out of the internship”.
While Asia City Publishing does not pay its interns, there are other internship positions advertised on The Straits Times classifieds section on Friday June 5 that offer a monthly stipend of $300 or more.
Asia City Publishing has yet to reply to The Online Citizen’s queries on the company’s position on unpaid internships.
Looking at the legal and ethical aspects of unpaid internships
The Online Citizen spoke to Mr Eugene Tan, Assistant Professor of Law, Singapore Management University, who specialises in business ethics and corporate social responsibility, regarding unpaid internships.
Mr Tan said an unpaid internship arrangement cannot be faulted on legal grounds if both the employer and the intern agree to the terms of the agreement.
Although he acknowledged that the “bargaining power of both parties are unequal”, the prospective intern can always refuse the internship on the outset if he or she is not happy with the terms offered by the employer.
Thus, Mr Tan advised prospective interns to scrutinise the offers cautiously and weigh the benefits of the training received and the potential for future employment against the drawbacks for having no stipend, for example.
He went on to explain that a grey area exists in whether a stipend or gratuity should be provided and in what should be the minimum sum for reimbursement.
“Companies need not necessarily be behaving unethically if no stipend or allowance is provided to the interns. Companies would argue that they are providing interns with training and career preparation at no costs to the interns,” he said.
However, Mr Tan encourages companies not to view interns as “free or cheap labour” but to provide the best training and exposure for the interns as a means of attracting and retaining talent.
He added that interns should not expect reimbursement for daily transport expenses incurred for the to-and-fro commute between home and office as employees are not reimbursed for that. However, he personally feels that it is out of goodwill that interns be given a general allowance.
A learning experience for students
Singapore Management University (SMU) requires all undergraduates to fulfil a minimum 10-week long internship at a business organisation before graduation which can be completed in Singapore or overseas.
A spokesperson from SMU told The Online Citizen that the internships provide a structured learning experience and allow students to gain experience in real word assignments beyond their learning experience in the classroom to obtain optimal career-related experience.
While the host company usually provides a stipend to the intern, SMU is open to unpaid internships and will evaluate them with the host organisation on a case-by-case basis.
The spokesperson said: “Students are encouraged to evaluate internship opportunities based on the challenge and value provided by the company, beyond just the stipend alone.”
While the spokesperson acknowledged that the stipend is one of the incentives which attract students, the job challenge, training, office environment and culture are also pull factors.
While SMU provides career counsellors to assist and guide students on their internship experience, students need to research and apply for positions which align with their skills, knowledge and career aspirations.
But for Max now, all he hopes to do is to earn some money. “I am seriously eating wind. With so much debt to clear, I am constantly depressed,” he said.
He added: “The underlying point is I feel that if I am creating revenue for the company, I should be at least be reimbursed for transport”
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It is a legally dangerous position to suggest that the “experience gained” by an intern may be consideration for his/her services provided.
Considering that practically EVERY job allows an employee a chance to “gain experience” and boost his/her CV, this notion could be extended to newly retrenched workers in such difficult economic times as these. What’s stopping a company from saying, “all right, you want to work for us, you’ll have to work 1 month free first before we give you a full time position”?
It is only just, fair and equitable that interns be paid an allowance that can cover basic daily living expenses.
NB to interns with rich parents who are offering themselves for free internships – for Pete’s sake, stop screwing up the free market, and don’t be going where everyone wants to go and no one’s needed.
46) humanoid .
/// are treated like dogs and only allowed to photocopy, clear the trash and serve coffee, they will w(h)in(e) and complain like now.///
Sadly a lot of companies treat job attachment and interns this way, paid or otherwise.
///But for Max now, all he hopes to do is to earn some money. “I am seriously eating wind. With so much debt to clear, I am constantly depressed,” he said.///
How did he get into so much debt at such a young age?
All those companies that don’t pay interns are owned by people of which race, huh? I’m curious.
Similar to #27, I had the benefit to work on internship administration some time back. Here are my observations :
(a) There is a mix of good and bad interns. Good taken as good attitude, coupled
with competence to handle assignments. Bad….. apart from being
incompetent/ lazy, they complain about almost everything, and take for
granted they have to be looked after in terms of renumeration, interests and
exposure. Then you have those who went a step further to absent themselves
without accountabilty to anyone, or wear skimpy outfits to work. This
phenomenon is not just with local interns. I have seen overseas interns with
the same problem. Seemed like they didn’t understand the school of hard
knocks, do they ？
So sure, companies should assess each intern on his or her own merit, but
how can you tell a good intern from a bad one from the beginning, given that
you have heard unpleasant stories ?
(b) Next we have the issue on renumeration. I came from a time when there
wasn’t a recession during my internship. I can tell you that companies were
already pragmatic enough not to over pay interns. So while it may be true you
have some companies paying high for interns, you probably have an
equivalent number of companies who don’t.
(c) What exactly is the objective of internship ? Institutions argue it’s for exposure.
Why ? Because even for best cases are interns who know their work, but still
have to learn about the working environment/ protocol. No amount of
textbooks will teach them.
Then you have to contend with the issue of paying by performance. I am not
saying we don’t have high performing interns, but I have serious doubts that
all interns can perform at a level, even deserving of an interns’ pay. If you
cannot deliver, then it depends on how strong the company subscribes to the
objective to give you exposure, and pay you.
(d) I was once an intern too. My company didn’t pay well during those
times. I can tell you that day 1 of my internship, I was a greenhorn.
The gap between the working environment and me was so big that for me to
claim competence in my work (my intern superior and institution recognised
this), the amount of time sacrifice, hard knocks and extra miles taken were
tremendous. You guys really think that all interns today will go through this ?
Just ask or work in a tertiary institution today, and you’ll know it’s an open
secret that many interns take their future for granted.
The only point I probably buy is if the intern comes from a poor family, and I think companies need to provide some compensation. Again, it is an open question what constitutes poor.
My daughter is currently doing a graduate school internship at a non-profit organization in the Southwestern United States. Not only is she required to have 400 hours working there for the internship requirements by the end of this summer, she has already paid well over $5,000 for this internship. In return, her university has forwarded most of this tuition directly to the non-profit organization where she is.
However, the worst part isn’t that she’s PAYING to WORK there. Her supervisor made her go into one of their warehouses which is well-over 110 degrees, and count and label (with a numeral) each ice chest inside the warehouse last Wednesday. She spent 9 hours counting and labeling these, while dresssed in “corporate” attire….she was told she could NOT change her clothing to work there! She asked the supervisor if she should list this inventory on a spreadsheet, a typed report, or handwritten, and was told she shouldn’t be asking any quesitons, that she should already know what was needed!
On Friday, she was told she didn’t count them according to size! Tomorrow she is expected to go there and do it all over again, this time listing how many there are of each size.
She got so hot on Wednesday she said she nearly passed out. The supervisor told her she needed to be constantly supervised, yet once our daughter went inside this warehouse, she was alone the entire day!
When we asked her to please report this to someone high-up over the supervisor’s head, she said she was afraid she would get a bad grade if she complained.
This isn’t just exploitation, it is inhumane. In the future if she should get dehydrated or heat stroked, I have requested that she call 9-1-1 and ask for an ambulance. She feels completely helpless and at the mercy of someone who has NO business saying they’re teaching her the “ropes” of the corporate world.
Any suggestions?
Write to the press.
Too bad our institutions are run by stupid scholars. There’s no 10-year series on how to manage a school. That’s why they are so dumb.