Flavorwire: The instinctive reaction to Condé Nast’s decision to completely discontinue its internship program rather than deigning to pay its interns minimum wage has generally been along the lines of, “Screw you, you cheap bastards.” This isn’t entirely unfair, obviously — the fact that one of America’s biggest publishing companies can’t put its hand in its pocket to pay its entry-level staff isn’t exactly a great reflection on the company or its management. But if others follow suit, the whole sorry business might have at least one unexpected benefit: hastening the end of the unpaid internship system as a whole.
1 comment:
It seems that the unpaid internship is one of those things that sounds pretty good in theory but doesn't ever really work out the way it is supposed to. I think if there was ever a "good" unpaid internship, the work would have to be different from what is done by paid staff and definitely (as suggested in the article) a short-term agreement. It would be used for inexperienced entry level workers to gain a little of the experience needed to get more permanent jobs, but I don't think the interns would be justified in doing the same amount of work that others are being paid for -- they should have fewer hours and a shorter overall term of work. I definitely see why unpaid internships don't work, however, and though I don't think they'll be going away completely (as long as people are willing to take them, they'll stay) maybe it is for the better that there are fewer.
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