Why organizations should pay their interns

In this era, organizations and hiring managers are claiming that the current graduates from tertiary institutions are unemployable. You will hear them say that the higher institutions of learning are churning out half-baked graduates. They will go on to say the graduates do not have the requisite experience to handle the jobs currently in the market.

However, blaming the graduates does not solve the problem of their inexperience. In fact, the organizations that make such claims are also to be blamed. They have a huge part to play in the problem by their failure to pay interns.

Many organizations have negated the essence of internships. Rather than the internships becoming a source of hands-on knowledge for the interns, they end up being exploited. The interns are treated like slaves and subjected to heavy workloads and minimal free time.

Some interns are treated like office messengers. They are subjected to running errands and serving tea to the office staff. They are also subjected to somehow menial tasks such as filing that is way out of line with their academic specialization.

At the end of the internship, the interns barely learn anything that relates to what they study in class. If this happens continuously, and when they graduate, they barely have any experience to carry out or fit in the job of their choice.

Therefore, organizations need to ensure that they set aside funds to pay their interns. Most of the time, the stipend is small but it is essential because it facilitates bus fare and lunch for the interns. This puts morale in them to deliver quality services. In addition, employers should stop treating interns like slaves or casual workers and later cry foul that the interns are ‘unemployable’.