Unpaid Internships: An Organization's Pipeline to Free Labour
There are many ways in which young people are being exploited in our society today, but one of the most common is through unpaid internships. Ideally, internship programs are designed to equip students or young professionals with the mentorship and hands-on experience they need in their chosen fields, enabling them to transition or fit seamlessly into the corporate world.
It serves as a bridge between the theoretical knowledge these young ones must have acquired in school and the practical expectations of working on real projects in a professional space. But many people still argue whether or not interns deserve any form of payment.
The argument exists because a lot of us view internships as a form of exchange between the intern and the company, which is exactly a great way to look at it. Afterall, the benefits of internships are mutual for both parties. While the students are challenged to apply their skills to real-world projects, companies also benefit from their time, dedication, and fresh contributions. This is the exact reason a lot of people do not care if interns receive payment or not.
However, when you take some time to examine the true nature of internships, it becomes clear how exploitative it is for organizations to operate on a zero-payment policy simply because interns are gaining experience with their help.
First and foremost, a lot of internships run for six months, and during this period, Interns are expected to resume work daily at the same time as full-time staff. Their companies also require them to close at the same time. They are expected to be instrumental to the company's most important projects by coming up with ideas that will help grow the company and also speak positively about their experience on social platforms like LinkedIn, which helps promote the organization's reputation. So in reality, they are performing actual work, and thus, deserve some form of compensation.
Supporting the idea that interns should not be paid makes it more difficult for individuals from poor homes to feel motivated or inspired to be exceptional at their work. It just encourages companies to remain dependent on free labour while downplaying the value of the work interns contribute to the workforce.
Secondly, most interns learn by actively working. They are not spoon-fed as people are made to believe. Rather, they are assigned tasks alongside the regular staff and their work is later reviewed with feedback and corrections. This is a good reason interns should be duly compensated. I don't think that their pay should match that of full-time employees, but it should be enough to cover expenses such as transportation, feeding, and other basic necessities. For remote internships, I believe a stipend should be provided to cover the intern's data expenses and efforts.
I understand that some organizations invest their resources in training interns, but seeing that many globally recognized companies still provide compensation regardless of the exposure, experience or credibility their big name gives to the intern, proves that payment for any work done is the right thing to do.
I remember my friend who worked with an IT firm, and for the most part, he took on more responsibilities than an intern should. Often times, the senior staff passed down their extra work to him, expecting that he completed them in due time. He was also required to step in when a staff in his team was being lazy about a task, and he contributed one of the brightest ideas that led to the launch of the firm's digital product, which alone should be enough reason for interns to get paid. But he was only given an allowance for transportation in the course of six months and that proved how exploitative these systems can be.
In conclusion, interns deserve to be paid for their time and effort because companies benefit heavily from their work. I mean, internships are not acts of charity neither can they be tagged as volunteering. The nature of the work simply proves that compensation is necessary. Besides, paying interns can also motivate them to produce better results, enable them support themselves without seeking additional jobs, and it increases the likelihood of them considering full-time roles within the organization, which in turn saves companies time and resources during future hiring processes. So, I strongly support that interns should be paid for the value they provide to organizations, alongside their contributions to workplace diversity and the development of a broader talent pool.
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