Do Your Company’s Interns Deserve to be Paid?

We’ve been told about the importance of paying our dues. You start at the bottom and work your way up. That is just how life works. It’s how your grandfather did it. It’s how your father did it. And now it’s your turn to do it. For many young men and women just entering the workforce, this means acquiring an internship—a place to get your foot in the door, perhaps fetch some coffee and hopefully learn about the industry you’ve discovered is your calling in life.

In this tough economy, internships are gold. At a time when even experienced people can’t find work, internships offer a ray of hope that someday working for free will pay off with steady employment. Until then, however, keep your head down, show up on time and work, work, work. The experience will pay off eventually, right? Well, that pay off may come sooner than you think.

This article explains, “A new lawsuit has been filed by Xuedan Wang, former intern for Hearst and experts are saying it could significantly rattle the publishing industry and change the way interns are treated forever. The young Brooklyn woman is claiming Hearst Corporation owes wages to her and others who interned at Harper’s Bazaar and other magazines since February of 2006.”

There is a wide spectrum of opinions regarding whether or not interns should be paid. Ultimately those debates will boil down to one question: what is fair? Some interns don’t do much at all, and don’t deserve much in return. Others work hard jobs for long hours and perhaps deserve more than a nice recommendation letter and work experience on their resume. Do you have interns at your office? Do you think they should be paid? Let us know in the comment section.

Photo courtesy of publicradioexchange.