Should Europe's Interns Get Paid?

[@Pan_Z]

Same people that support this are going to be scratching their heads when suddenly companies stop hiring interns.

[@imunfathomable]

Living wage (different than minimum wage) needs to be a thing in every country. But it wont.

[@jon6309]

I think the idea of intern needs to change. If they are unpaid then perhaps the role needs to be more of shadowing and learning the job without the expectation of interns contributing labor. In the USA where I live, paid internships for most corporations were basically a fancy way of saying the person was hired seasonally for part time entry level work or to relieve some administrative duties for the time being. The bank I currently work for has a very good internship program and pays their interns at the same time trains them. They also have a bank associate program for recently graduated students that allows them to rotate shifts in different parts of the bank til they find a fit. My company has also considered posting some of their full time corporate position for part time work exclusively for students to get a chance to gain experience if they didn’t make the cut for the internship program which is very competitive.

[@TSDamiano]

Companies: We cant find workers/ Labour shortage Companies: To cut cost we dont pay your intership

[@ISpieleUndMehrDE]

Just leave me alone. Another unnecessary overregulation from Brussels...

[@LoscoX]

If you're a STEM student you can require a paid intership to IAESTE. Even Better, if you can find with IAESTE an intership in switzerland, your salary for an internship will be around 2-3k chf/month.

[@OddRagnarDengLerstl]

This feudalism bordering slavery 😢

[@alessandrodamato5059]

✋😅

[@iliamanolov5926]

Governments should definitely be covering interns' pay. For a company it makes little sense to pay to train someone up just to see them move to another company once their training is done, since company loyalty is at an all-time low and forcing interns to work a set amount of time at the company after the training is over is illegal. The alternative of doing free internships would increase income and career inequality because it will enable only people with enough money to get trained in more technical work that will pay better in the long run. So the only remaining option is to have the state subsidise interns at close to minimum wage (you don't want to have it at minimum wage since a traineeship would then compete with minimum wage jobs). Ideally they should also give companies a small tax cut for the first few months of hiring each intern as an extra incentive, as even a free intern costs time to train up. This makes sense as the government is essentially outsourcing the training of its populace from its educational institutions to companies, and will result in a more educated and capable workforce in the long term. The issue with the entire idea is that this can be a big investment and a lot of EU countries wouldn't be able to afford it, even if there was political will. It's nice to dream tho.

[@Gfynbcyiokbg8710]

Thats a terrible idea. Why on earth would a company ever hire any regular employees when they can just get the government to pay for all of their 'interns'?

[@malcolmx61]

Terrible idea, don't think anymore

[@Nonsme604]

This girl looking Jewish ✡️ Am I right ?

[@dantetre]

The mandatory "work experience" for finishing bachelor degree should be cancelled in the first place.

[@ANDIBO987]

One time I started an internship in a company related to my studies. Once it started they sat me on a phone TO GET CLIENTS. I did this for 3 days until I realized this company was not only getting paid to educate me in real job skills I was severely underpaid. I said I wanted to talk to the person who was in charge of my internship according to my contract. SHE DIDNT EVEN KNEW what I have studied. I told her since it was still in try out period (for them and luckily for me) I told them I’d prefer to do my internship somewhere I can do something related to my degree. They were FUMING. I got a call from one of the bosses saying how unprofessional that was and I told him as it was. No. You are just bypassing having to hire people to get clients and using me as free labor and once my internship is done I will be in the street and you will get more interns that are not only almost free. You pocket the difference between their salary and what you get from the university of the fees that I am paying!!! He shut up and said good luck with looking for a better internship

[@maryflh6283]

If I take on someone with no experience, I have to sit with them and explain how to do the work, then I have to work late myself to get my work done. Then I have to pay them while I train them and double my own work load. The government should pay them while they are training, and a fee to the company for time spent training. Because if you give up working hours to train someone you don’t get the work done and damage client relationships.

[@no_name4796]

Intern DO FUCKING WORK. They are not there just playing all day, you know? And often times, since they are inexperienced, they do the low effort stuff which is necessary, but a pain in the ass to do. So fuck off, with your "NooUh I Am nOT PaYiNg InTeRnS" Btw, there is a category a people which is always not talked about, which do basically nothing and get basically all the profits. But nope, they definitely worked way harder the others (sarcasm was used there)

[@marcialabrahantes3369]

Productivity usually dips when training someone new. But your management should be made aware of this and be accommodating... it won't be for ever until they're productive on their own

[@-IIIII-IIIII-]

You get paid when you go to school ?

[@tido91]

Malaysia is more advanced from EU in this part. We pay ⅓-¼ from minimum wage

[@Ssquake]

To be fair it’s part of the education. And education is very affordable in the EU. For the business these interns have some (usually very limited) impact, yes, but it usually takes mentors 1/6th out of their day for training/checking/following up/evaluating and completing forms for the school/… If students were in big debt, I agree companies should pay, but in the EU the goal of interning is to learn and get some hands on experience. Expectations are usually near zero.

[@liviuadrian1101]

You said "goal of interning is is to learn and get some hands on experience". Problem is that you don't, as Hugo said, companies already place interns into entry positions which don't aport much experience at all for the intern. And from personal experience (6 month internship at 300€/month), I can tell you that companies tend to leave interns alone, most of the time, doing bullshit jobs. Which only provides the experience of having a job, but not professional experience that is worth for your CV or anything. Now tell me, if interns already do entry jobs and are left alone, why should they apply for internship when they get the same experience as an entry job worker at minimum wage, + they tend to replace interns with new interns (answer is, because companies have found a loophole to have permanent workers for less than minimum wage). The company I worked for fired an employee two weeks after they hired 2 interns.

[@jasonjames6870]

Internships are theft

[@deuuis8827]

I think it's hard to decide - I just recently got an Email that I would be getting an internship for no pay. I understand that since as an intern, I cost the company quite a lot of money for which I get experience in return.

[@marcialabrahantes3369]

The company wouldn't hire you unless you return more than you cost. Voluntarily giving up a wage is what keeps the practice in place. Find a paying internship so that places that don't, do not have enough applicants and make them actually reconsider paying :)

[@aishaljphillips]

Currently on an unpaid "work experience" at an Irish government agency... It's been an amazing experience and I'm leaving with a fantastic CV, but it was a huge financial burden for me. The worst thing about this is that this work placement was mandated by my university course... So I had to pay fees to a college to go work for free for my work experience 🫣🙄🤯

[@insertyourquarters]

In the UK, many internships used to be unpaid at least 15 years ago. Now, they are at least covering travel expenses and some minimum wage. One thing I did learn over time though is to ask and negotiate. No one is obligated to not pay especially if they value your time and skill.

[@xouri8009]

Hmm interesting. I've worked in several countries in Europe, Portugal, Spain, UK, netherlands, Belgium. Never met an unpaid intern. They were all paid. Now granted, all paid the bare minimum, but still... Also, Engineering fields, so I guess that probably makes a different.

[@ok-pp8fp]

I have worked for 3 interships, like 12 months total and 0$ profit, only cost

[@marceloccnv]

Finally! I was to complete my barchelor while working a full time at night and couldn’t leave my job to for an unpaid internship so I lost the opportunity to complete it. That would save me and people under the same circumstances.

[@GabrielCazorlaPersson1]

I managed to get a full time job, well paying above my expectations, 0 experience and 0 internships. I believe that companies should pay in full to those interns, at the same rate than any other employee. I am going to tell you why... First, the main value of doing an internship is that you may continue working for that company. In that sense, you are not only getting experience for the sake of it, you are being trained to work there even before you commit to a full time job. It is a win-win situation, and if that company cannot afford to pay you at the same pay rate, it cannot afford to hire you. Second, this internship system is so twisted, that people nowadays do a masters only to take an internship, because you cannot do an internship without being a student. If companies had by law to pay you at the same rate than any other entry level employee, we would not have this limitation.

[@Biru_to]

I disagree with the sentiment that an intern should receive full pay. Typically an internship is used to gain experience. Why should someone unexperienced be paid the same as someone experienced? What I personally don't understand is why interns don't receive minimum pay. If companies are not willing to pay for that, they should receive tax deductions or something else to make it work for them financially. Now the intern pays by receiving, often, no money.

[@GabrielCazorlaPersson1]

@@Biru_to I have 0 experience and I am receiving a full and well above average paying salary. The company provides all training, classroom based, online, or on the job. I can expect my salary to grow 0-10% on the next years based on performance.

[@Gfynbcyiokbg8710]

​@@Biru_toterrible take

[@blazer9547]

Is that your sister 😂

[@IntoEurope]

Nope, just my paid intern ;)

[@whitestreak4852]

@@IntoEuropeI am either crazy or she looks very similar to you LOL

[@uhmwhat158]

@@whitestreak4852you are crazy 😭

[@Ludix147]

As someone currently doing an internship, I'm glad that I'm at least paid German mimimum wage, but it's still barely covering costs. Though I feel I should really be getting at least twice as much in my field. Ah well, I feel less pressure to perform because of that, and for a few months it's alright. I think if you want all internships to be paid, you should maybe start instead by paying university students for studying. But it's probably enough to just pay the poorer students. As a third point, so many companies are desperately trying to hire people right now as boomers start retiring, I think the problem will solve itself. They will need to be attractive employers and pay their interns to attract them.

[@albevanhanoy]

You want to have productive employees? Start by paying your interns. Maybe some day, they will be your employees.

[@TheFalseShepphard]

15% more than their costs is enough

[@Danji_Coppersmoke]

I support this EU directive. Interns must be paid at least a living wage.

[@chrisj-zk1tg]

We have these horrible conditions then our leaders wonder why we're not having babies 😂

[@HladniSjeverniVjetar]

​@@chrisj-zk1tg yea, that's the problem ....rofl.