Companies offering internships: limits and obligations?

[Feature]

I am surprised by the fact there are companies in the UK who hire more interns than employees.

I was wondering:

• are there any limits in the number of interns a company can or may have?
• are there legal requirements for the company who takes interns? for example supervision and the quality of this etc.

I've searched high and low for answers to these questions, but no luck. So far it seems anyone can setup up a business full with interns, speaking of cheap labour.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I cant believe it. Who would be daft enough to work for nothing ?

You would never employ such a person as somebody that works for nothing would just be plain stupid

How you could you trust this person they would be giving stock away and selling services for nothing .They would be so used to not getting paid !

 

[Billmccallum]

I cant believe it. Who would be daft enough to work for nothing ?

You would never employ such a person as somebody that works for nothing would just be plain stupid

How you could you trust this person they would be giving stock away and selling services for nothing .They would be so used to not getting paid !

Clearly a statement from someone with little knowledge.

There are two distinct threads on the subject.

An Intern (or volunteer) gets practical work experience and the chance to build personal and professional skills while working for nothing (although some companies do give living expenses) and the opportunity to impress the employer in the hope that a full-time job will come up and that they will be best placed to get that job.

Secondly, there is a whole sector called the Voluntary Sector (sometimes called the Third Sector), where thousands of people give their time for nothing, most do so to support their local community, a preferred charity or just to pass some time in the company of like minded people.

In 1995 I got involved with a small community group as a volunteer, by 1997 I was full-time Finance Officer of a £10 million regeneration programme and by 1998 I was Chairman of the organisation that managed the building of 120 new houses and a £1.25 million community resource centre in the middle of a deprived estate.

Not exactly stupid.....

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I would say I know enough

You must never ever confuse charity work with this new slave labour culture. Charity work is for the good of those that the charity aims to help.
This work at the same time can develop the skills of a person and make them more employable but the ultimate goal is the success of the charity and it is a very good thing.

Employing people and not paying them a wage is slave labour you people can talk it up as much as you like but at the end of the day it is unpaid work that is taking place with objection to make profit for the company.
So you take on an unpaid inturn or whatever you like call it .Do they get to see the sharp end where it matters probably not .They are more likly to be stuffing envolopes and going to the post box. I think somewhere along the lines Carl Marx may have had some input into this blue print but that was for the good of the state

Bill you have done some wonderful stuff and I have a lot of respect for you but you did this together with other volenteers to make somebody elses life better .Not to help buy a share holder his new Jag !!!

 

[Billmccallum]

I would say I know enough

You must never ever confuse charity work with this new slave labour culture. Charity work is for the good of those that the charity aims to help.
This work at the same time can develop the skills of a person and make them more employable but the ultimate goal is the success of the charity and it is a very good thing.

Employing people and not paying them a wage is slave labour you people can talk it up as much as you like but at the end of the day it is unpaid work that is taking place with objection to make profit for the company.
So you take on an unpaid inturn or whatever you like call it .Do they get to see the sharp end where it matters probably not .They are more likly to be stuffing envolopes and going to the post box. I think somewhere along the lines Carl Marx may have had some input into this blue print but that was for the good of the state

Bill you have done some wonderful stuff and I have a lot of respect for you but you did this together with other volenteers to make somebody elses life better .Not to help buy a share holder his new Jag !!!

You seemed to have ignored the first part of my post, which said nothing about charity work, that was the second paragraph.

The first part talked about an intern building skills and experience, not being a slave to shareholders or directors.

You seem to be ingnoring that fact that nobody forces anyone to be an intern, its usually a considered business decision to work for nothing, with the expectation/hope that a job wil become available.

Where a business does take on an intern with no skills or experience, someone has to spend a considerable amount of time and effort teaching the intern the systmes and processes of the business and providing one-to-one support and guidance throughout the process, its an investment in the future ability of the intern.

I think its a much more valuable system than employing people on minimum wage with no prospect of advancement.

 

[Feature]

This situation is about commercial companies employing more interns than employees. These companies' goals are to make money. No official volunteering or charity going on, what the interns do is work.

To give you an example situation: 20 interns and 5 employees.

In this example the company offering internships has only 5 employees keeping the business running AND on top of that they provide one-to-one support and guidance throughout the process to 20 interns.. this is great in theory... not sure how this pans out in real life.

What are the legal requirements and limitations of this situation?...if any.

I cant believe it. Who would be daft enough to work for nothing ?

Be amazed .. there are many (and I really mean many) students in the world looking for an internship in the UK. They are the ones willing to work free, which is completely imaginable. As long as the student receives money from a European Commission programs to support their internship, no company in UK is required to pay them any wage.