Are internships useful experience or exploitation?

7 Feb 2013
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A study found unpaid work trials, internships and other forms of work experience are on the rise. (AAP)

A study found unpaid work trials, internships and other forms of work experience are on the rise. (AAP)

Research has backed union claims that employers are increasingly blurring the line between unpaid work trials and exploitation. A study by the University of Adelaide found a growing number of Australian businesses are using "trial periods" or the promise of employment to lure workers into unpaid roles that should be filled by paid staff.

Unions NSW Secretary Mark Lennon says "There's a fine line between volunteering in order to get a start and then being habitually exploited". Where do you think that line is?

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more OFF TOPIC

barry - from burwood, 4 months ago

yes.. I've noticed that the whole of the SBS News webpages, not just Your Say, is now very selective on Comments options. The topics that should have options for comments dont whilst "trivial" stories do.

OFF TOPIC

colonial boy - from europe, 4 months ago

SBS !!! You are under exploiting Your Say. The questions you ask are of a trivial nature in comparison to what we would like to comment on. New questions should be posted weekly at least. Compare your questions post Rudd to before the 2007 elections. Who ever it is that posts the evasive questions should be replaced by someone more aware of the issues that the main stream are going to be bothered responding to. SBS has LOST a lot of commentators due to poor management of YOUR SAY.

vice versa

colonial boy - from eurpoe, 4 months ago

some body should be keeping an eye on unions that exploit employers and turn a blind eye to theft and corruption of politicians. if an individual wants to work for experience only, thats their right. the dole should be scrapped and replaced with community work. US union money should not be allowed to fund Labor, it should be used to help pay Labor made national debt. refugees should be given vouchers, not funding to send to their families to pay for more people smuggling dont trust unions today

Entitled

Liam - from Melbourne, 4 months ago

James Barlow, the people with an entitlement mentality are the employers who believe they are somehow entitled to productive labor at far below market rates.

Depends on the situation

Liam - from Melbourne, 4 months ago

Depends on how it is used, if the intern is in a highly supervised, mostly observational role, doing little productive work, and/or requiring significant time from other employees then it is not unreasonable for them to be unpaid and/or low paid. If however, the intern is doing work that would otherwise be done by members of staff, and/or doing significant productive work, then they should be paid for it in full, at the very least of a casual employee. Anything less is exploitation

Its all about minimizing costs

barry - from melbourne, 4 months ago

Medical internships are a good example.. if you knew how little sleep many interns get over the 48 hrs prior to seeing you, you wouldnt go anywhere near the hospital... at least they have the possibility to eventually earn big income, but most informal internships dont have that carrot.. its just another example of importing US mentality of big dominate the small .. its about minimizing costs to the employer at the employee's expense.

entitlement mentality

sue - from essendon, 4 months ago

James, Scarsborough (Perth??) seems to be saying that having an expectation of getting paid by an employer for performing work that helps give the employer an income, is an unreasonable expectation and persons with such expectations have an "entitlement mentality". What about those who work and actually get paid.. are they just downright greedy.

It is not about "plum jobs" - that is not the point

Captain Blackadder - from Paris, 4 months ago

Most rational and right thinking people know they will start with a job that is in the low end of an organisation and work their way up. It is about the false expectation that is created, when someone who has been seeking employment for a long period of time is given an " unpaid trial period" with no guarantee that it will be converted into a paid contract or on-going employment. It remains exploitation no matter how it is dressed up and as a result can have quite devastating impact on a person.

misconceptions.

James Barlow - from Scarborough, 4 months ago

This issue has predictably brought all the psuedo socialists and professional students out from the safety of their cosy institutions. The facts of life are somewhat different to the entitlement mentality being fostered by our education system and life in the real world will soon teach them that inevitably we get out of life and work and careers only what we are willing to invest in time and energy.

been there, done that!

Cassandra - from Western Sydney, 4 months ago

The intelligent answer to this question depends entirely on whether or not the person or persons in question actually gain value from the experience or like many, simply feel exploited if they are expected to start at the bottom instead of being given all the "plum jobs" first up, as we all know so many now do.

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