Internships are not free slave labour

Come July-August and there is always a scramble in the student community, aged 15 and upward, to secure internships. And this is always followed by a rash of press releases and photos from companies, showcasing their internship programmes and interns to show that they are nurturing the workforce of tomorrow. But, in speaking to my children and their friends, I have found that the term ‘internship’ is loosely used in Bahrain and could be anything – it could be a valuable, tightly-scheduled and planned learning experience in a modern workplace which will help youngsters understand workplace dynamics and give them an insight into what career they want to follow. Or it could be a holiday time-pass where the company has no real plan to give the interns a feel for the work they do but are merely ticking the box. Here the youngsters unfortunately find themselves used as errand boys and girls, not picking up any real insights into the work they signed up for and emerging from the internship with nothing better than a knowledge of feeding the photocopier.

Damaging as this is, there is a third type of internship which is far worse. It is the “free” internship where the intern is taught the ropes of the assigned job and given excellent grounding in what is expected. The company usually has a proper duty description and mentors in the workplace to guide the intern. However, the whole exercise is a sham – because the internship is not a paid one. The intern is not paid anything and while they learn a lot, by not paying them a fair salary for their work, the company is missing a major lesson – it is not teaching them to value themselves or their talent in the marketplace. In addition, it can be considered being taken advantage of – companies should know better than to expect free service from rookie workers and if they cannot pay a fair wage to interns, why then, they should not hire them and pretend they are doing them a favour.

An internship serves as a mutually beneficial relationship where students gain hands-on experience, industry knowledge, and practical skills, while companies benefit from fresh perspectives, energy, and the potential for future talent. To do it right, I believe that the Ministry of Labour must ask all companies hiring interns to submit a detailed Internship Plan well in advance along with what the company will pay the interns. Only after this has been approved must companies be allowed to flaunt their interns. (Captain Mahmood Al Mahmood is the Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Tribune and the President of the Arab-African Unity Organisation for Relief, Human Rights and Counterterrorism)