Not sure if your unpaid internship is illegal? You’re not alone!

When we set up Internocracy, we had a lot of questions. What do people know about internships? What about unpaid internships? Do managers know the score when it comes to taking on interns? We spent a lot of time talking to individuals, from interns to employers, and got through a fair amount of tea and biscuits. And then our friends at YouGov agreed to do some research for Internocracy (yes, biscuits were involved). The findings were fairly shocking to us and we’re compiling a paper which will take us a few weeks yet. But we wanted to share the topline figures with everyone so here they are. If you have any questions, just contact us at hello@internocracy.org.

Unpaid internships break the law – but only 10% young people know it

Research commissioned by Internocracy reveals that only 10% of under-35s who have heard of internships know their rights when it comes to working as an unpaid intern.

And employers aren’t faring much better when it comes to understanding legislation around internships: only 12% of managers interviewed who have heard of internships, understand that for-profit companies may be breaking the law if they offer unpaid placements.

The results also found that 84% of employees who have worked in a company that employs interns think that they are a useful addition to their organisation.

It’s clear that the business case of using unpaid interns is no more able to stand up to scrutiny than the legal or moral case.

Internocracy CEO Becky Heath said:

“When such low numbers of young people and employers actually understand the rights interns have in the workplace, it’s no wonder that exploitation is rife in popular sectors where competition for experience is fierce.

The reality is that if an organisation takes on someone to do work for them, whether or not they are called an ‘intern’, they should be paid at least national minimum wage if they are being given responsibilities and are expected to work set hours. ‘Intern’ isn’t code for ‘free labour’ and it’s time companies stopped profiting from exploiting young people.”

Dom Potter, Co-founder of Internocracy said:

“The last few weeks have seen the atrocious act of internships being auctioned off to the highest bidder at the Conservative annual ball. But in reality this is what happens every time an unpaid internship placement is filled: people with fewer financial means or social connections are priced out of the market. With youth unemployment at a record high and social mobility at an all-time low, we simply cannot afford for this broken system to continue.“

ENDS

Notes to editors:

• 10% of 18-35s who have heard of internships understood that unpaid internships may be illegal
• 12% of top, senior and middle managers interviewed who have heard of internships understood that unpaid internships may be illegal
• 84% of people who have worked in a company which employs interns thought that the interns in their organisations were useful
• Furthermore, a majority of people who have heard of internships(59%) think that companies exploit interns as a source of free labour
• Only 9% of people agreed that companies should not pay their interns.

• All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc.  Total sample size was 1,858 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 3rd – 7th February 2011.  The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).
• Internocracy will be releasing a full report with further figures on “The State of Internships in the UK” on 7^th March 2011
• This follows on from a joint report from Internocracy and ippr ‘Why Interns Need a Fair Wage’ released in July 2010 and available at http://www.ippr.org.uk/publicationsandreports/publication.asp?id=765