Let's Talk About - Interns: should they be paid?
For some industries, an internship is a necessity in order to progress through a degree and ultimately graduate. Nowadays, even when not required, some students are advised to look for internships to bolster their resume / CV so that they would assist in their job prospects in the near future.
Personally, to necessitate everyone going through any course to have some real-life experience working in that industry or even on a student's own initiative, I think it is a great idea.
Ideally, they would have at least learnt some soft-skills in navigating the working world (i.e. communication, how to present themselves in a professional environment, how to draft emails / letters etc), have the chance to apply some of their knowledge in the industry itself and have met, spoke with, and learnt from the people who are currently working in the industry that they plan to join soon.
Interns.
Sometimes also known as "Cheap labour"? "Free labour"?
I saw a post from The Star (2023) just today, and it triggered my thoughts about this topic once again. It states that interns are not protected by the Employment Act and are therefore vulnerable to abuse. I 100% agree with that. There is an inherent unfair bargaining power between the parties here, the employer who has all the influence and authority here and the interns.
Interns who are just starting out in the industry and who has little to no say in anything - from the workload to the expectations on them - let alone whether they are even paid at all for having the opportunity to intern at a company to gain the necessary experience. Not to mention the working hours and the actual treatment of the interns.
Some interns could even be told to do menial work for the duration of the internship and not even learning anything substantial.
As mentioned above, some get on board the 'internship' train by choice and some by necessity. Regardless, with the standard of living in Klang Valley nowadays, it is definitely NOT an option to leave interns unpaid any longer.
So what should interns be paid?
The cost of a single person living in KL and taking public transport requires a minimum of RM1,870 a month according to Belanjawanku (a 2022 Universiti Malaya study) (The Star, 2023). I personally have experienced the rise of living costs and also through my conversations with my peers living in Klang Valley.
Of course there are exceptional employers who understand the economic situation and opt to pay interns. I personally agree that interns do not necessarily fall into the category of 'employees' - they are called interns for a reason - and without a doubt, their workload and what they do in a company would differ from an employee.
Therefore, I would think that they would not need to be paid as much as an employee (!), but depending on what they are required to do, they should be paid an appropriate allowance in order to mitigate the costs of travelling, food and to compensate them for exchanging their time and effort being there in the company for that period of time.
It is a rather threadbare argument that interns are learning from the employers and employers are sacrificing their time and effort to teach these interns - and that's why they should not be paid.
That being said, I think that it would only be fair to both employers and interns to have a proper internship program spanning the course of 1/3/6/9/12 months accordingly that would be proportional to the allowance of the interns respectively.
This would ensure that interns know what to expect going into such a program, and likewise, the employers would also know what to expect from interns in that program. This would ensure that both sides getting what they expect to get, and also reduce mismatched expectations and avoid disappointments. A proper briefing or orientation and debriefing should be organized to that effect as well.
This would avoid interns just 'shaking their legs' or being 'cold-storaged' (not given any work) during their internships or being seen as a 'waste of time and space' while everyone around them ignores them and continues with their work. Employers and employees alike should be involved in this program - why?
- Employers get a chance to showcase their company and what they do (and market their company). A good impression would last a lifetime amongst future workers and employees in the same or even different industries
- Employers are able to give prospective employees a taste of working with their company. If the experience is good, they would be more than happy to return to apply for job vacancies in the company in the future.
- Employees get an opportunity to teach interns / students about the work that they do in their industry; isn't the best way to learn to teach someone else?
- Employees get an opportunity to teach interns / students about the inner workings of the marketplace (which would not be taught in a university setting). Soft-skills that would be useful to interns / students in their future, no doubt.
- Employees get a chance to build connections and foster relationships with up-and-coming prospective employees or even to enter into a mentor-mentee type of relationship - and perhaps make lifelong friends?
On that note, I personally have had the opportunity to speak with people who are more experienced in the industry on multiple occasions throughout my career. Those that are especially vivid in my memory were those were kind enough to lend me a hand, offer me some assistance early on in my career, or even just said something kind to me regarding my efforts, work ethic or even personality. Some of them have even gone to be lifelong friends in my journey of life too. I hold on to those dearly.
To future interns, I hope that you find that person for yourself; and
To current employers and employees, I hope that you are inspired to be that person for someone.
The Star (2023) https://www.thestar.com.my/news/focus/2023/07/02/reevaluating-our-internship-policies?utm_campaign=later-linkinbio-thestaronline&utm_content=later-36223957&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkin.bio
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