Nie robię za darmo

Back as a fourth-year student I brought to your attention the topic of unpaid internships and expressed my displeasure with HR policies allowing to hire young people without paying them at all. As a student, I never condescended to take an unpaid internship, despite understanding employers’ rationale (or excuses) behind such despicable practices. Time has gone by, my career has moved on, I am no longer eligible for an internship, but keep in mind days when I was on a lookout for gaining first job experience and hence sympathise with current students, often coerced to work for a mere “thank you”.

I was more than pleased to find out somebody has finally decided to draw a line at offering students and graduates unpaid internships. Nie robię tego za darmo (I don’t do it for free) is a project launched by one of Poznan-based NGOs, Wspieramy Wielkich Jutra (Supporting the Future Leaders, to convey the meaning) foundation that has gained extensive media coverage in week following the campaign commencement on 20 September. Originators of the venture have broached an important social problem that affects each year thousands of young people in Poland.

For some of you this may sound like a leftist twaddle, but unpaid internships are a nefarious form of labour exploitation (campaigners call it slavery), taking advantage of natural weakness of inexperienced youngsters (no one has been born with a CV full of previous positions) in corporations’ pursuit of higher profits. I do not advocate going to another extreme and meeting excessive pay requirements some graduates have, as it is obvious a freshman will not add huge value to a company, but it is a matter of straightforward decency to pay an intern at least token “peanuts” allowing them to subsist in a city they work (during my last internship, 3 years ago, I earned 2,200 PLN before tax monthly and such salary seems reasonable). If you argue an intern does not add value to your business, what is the point in hiring them at all? If you argue an intern requires attention and teaching such person utilizes the company’s resources, I remind you in free-market economy in order to reap profits you need to invest and every kind of business expansion carrier a risk – the same applies to money spent on human capital. Not every such investment will pay you back.

If the points above do not seem convincing, let’s refer to the economic concept of negative selection. In simple words it implies better candidates for interns will choose paid internships, while those too poor to be offered paid internships will come to you and you will get leftovers.

OK, so they will come anyway, better or worse, yet suitable to do some simple tasks. You might point out the market functions in such way, so if there is a demand even for unpaid internships, why not coming up with supply? The reasoning is akin to noticing a loophole in law – if you can circumvent a regulation and go unpunished, why not benefiting from it? It all boils down to ethics, the moral spine you have or only claim to have. Any company that takes on interns for free and claims its commitment to CSR lies through its teeth! Get it? If not, use the last resort analogy. If someone pays you a visit, do you offer them something to drink or eat, or not, because they do not ask you? Just as offering a beverage or snack to a guest is a matter of good manners, paying an intern is a matter of decency.

Tens of companies, including the biggest Polish firms and multinational corporations have swiftly supported the initiative. The circle of commendable employers covers, according to press reports, inter alia: Orange, Danone, ArcelorMittal, Deloitte, General Electric, Leroy Merlin, PKN Orlen, Bank Pekao, PwC, PGNiG, PZU, Toyota and Whirlpool. The code of ethics has been written in one-page long “Polish Internship Quality Framework”, a document which sets out requirements an internship with a civilised employer has to meet. The key assumptions are:

1) each internship lasting at least 1 month MUST be paid and governed by a written contract,

2) each internship should have an agenda / plan setting forth duties of an intern and skills they are to acquire or develop

3) each intern should have a supervisor who will be responsible for overseeing and lending a helping help to an intern,

4) each intern should receive feedback at the end of their stint and written confirmation of completing the internship.

I must say my last internship fulfilled all the criteria above, thanks to this both my employer and I benefited from it.

Points above address other pathologies affecting how internships are organised. We must not confine the problem to the mere aspect of remuneration, since what an intern does at work is of paramount importance as well. The initiative is also intended to crack down on internships consisting in brewing coffee, copying documents, or sorting pieces of paper in files. But these pathologies in turn stem from another ludicrous arrangement, which fortunately was not in force at my university when I was a student, i.e. that internship is obligatory for every student and every student needs to get a credit for it in order to get a degree. I hold the view students are adults, aware of how the labour market functions, who realise what factors are appreciated by employers and who know the value of experience when looking for the first serious job. If somebody wants to gain experience, they will take matters into their hands anyway. If somebody is reluctant to have an internship, their choice – what is the point in two parties to internship agreement having to put up with each other?

Noteworthy is also the story of intern working in the City who participated in summer programme run by Bank of America Merill Lynch. The 21-year-old student was paid 2,700 pounds a month for his job, but did not endure 70 hours of continuous working without a break… So while in Poland the case is whether interns are paid at all, in the UK problems youngsters overreaching themselves in the chase of jobs in the never-sleeping financial industry, have become an issue.

Internship’s over, back as a student

Actually there was no other solution. I knew there was no vacancy at my Department, so it didn’t matter they wanted to take me on, but they couldn’t. I knew I had to go back to school to take all remaining courses, pass all due exams, write my MA thesis and finish off my studies. I fully realised combining studying and working would be a task I might not be up to. I knew the day of parting with my colleagues would be dejecting, even the weather let me down – gloom and chill have been overwhelming for the past few days and just exacerbated my mood. Right – Thursday, on my way to work, Heaven only knows if for the last time. Will I return there? If so, when?

I bought some sweets for my colleagues (right) to brighten up the gloomy day. I spent it toing and froing between my office and main Warsaw head office located around a mile away from Złote Tarasy (try going there by car, the odometer shows you’ve covered eight kilometres and the journey lasts longer than on foot), trying to obtain all confirmations for my clearance slip (obiegówka) and predictably I haven’t managed to bring it off. Therefore before I return it to the HR Department I still have an entry card to my office and I’ll surely have to visit my colleagues here and there, the time for last farewells is still ahead!

My colleagues probably appreciated my efforts and commitment because they chipped in and bought me a book (right), “The Intelligent Investor” by Benjamin Graham. My supervisor even almost leant over backwards to come by a signature of the acting CEO of my bank under the dedication note. Maybe reading the book will finally convince me to shift from short-term, profit-chasing speculations towards long-term, well-thought-out investments. For sure I should give it a review on PES in a while.

On Monday I have my first classes at school. During three months of long vacation I wrote two subchapters of my MA thesis. Now, despite general, overwhelming numbness I’ll have to get round to writing in earnest, no leniency for myself. Plus yesterday I found out all one of my courses I have to get credit in has disappeared without a trace. Another stumbling block in my education process and another nuisance involving legwork and catching through the red tape. Back to school means also back to greyness, but next year when I graduate something will be over forever, the period, which lots of people call “the most beautiful in man’s life” will be over and so what then? Everything indicates I’ll dive smoothly into the corporate world. Hey, I begin to understand why some of my peers decide to take second studies only to feel younger? Do they do that to have those two diplomas and better chances on the labour market or is it a desperate attempt to extend the carefree years, put back the moment they become adult? I understand but I still steer clear of taking their path.

It has become an unquestionable fact – I have been going through a serious crisis. First symptoms were noticeable back in August, now it appears to be full-blown. Actually I don’t even try to conceal it, but everyone shrugs it off or stares at me with disbelief. Actually from the way I behave (that sense of humour, that self-confidence, etc.) no one can infer I’m afflicted with anything that resembles a crisis. Believe it or not, I’m at the crossroads – either I’ll pick up the pieces and get my act together or I’ll have to rename the blog into “PES without my neighbour’s rottweiler” or something like this. And I don’t know if anyone remembers, but in February 2009 when I became a blogger, I set a rule “nothing personal” for myself. When did I break it for the first time? Has anyone noticed the “unquestionable fact” from the first sentence of this paragraph is called into question by virtually everyone, except me? Next time instead of “you sound more like Pinolona every day”, I’ll find “you sound more like Kaczynski every day” in my comment box.

Observant followers of the Polish-English blogosphere have probably noticed we’ve been in decline for some time now. I suspended my blog in the late-spring exam period, from the beginning of July I set myself a rigid “one post per weekend” rule and I abided by it. In the academic year I’ll be keeping it up. My apologies, I’m too short of time and too busy to take care of my child more frequently. The same problem has affected other blogs – Travels without my spaniel is rarely updated, Scatts is bloody busy, but accepted a “sluggish blogger award”, Polandian has lost its charm – Jamie was moving and didn’t have access to Internet, Scatts and I were too busy to have time and energy to write. Will someone take the place of us?

Sink or swim! Time to get my act together!

A barometer of the business cycle?

Who knows? Not me, I have conflicting feelings after visiting the biggest internship fair staged in Warsaw. The event is held two times a year, the autumn edition is organized in my school, the spring one, usually in turn of March and April – in the Palace of Culture and Science… This year’s edition had rather austere setting, I couldn’t see any banner on the facade of the building, the number of exhibitors shrunk by almost a half in comparison with the previous year, the stands didn’t look specially lavishly, rather they arranged it sparingly. Some of the companies listed in the brochure didn’t even appear, number of banks present didn’t exceed ten. I’ve had a few conversations with the representatives, procure a few pens and finally left the Palace to relish on the first blow of spring – now, in the late afternoon I guess I’m suffering from the thermal shock – the weather shift was too rapid for me.

Any conclusions? This is next time I was proved wrong – the crisis hit the industry. I thought companies, including the ones in financial sector, in an attempt to trim the cost would seek after students and graduates to offer the positions of trainees, rather low-paid ones, to benefit from the freshness and ingeniousness of the cheap, but gifted labour force. Luckily, I feel secure about my own professional future, particularly after a chat with a charming female colleague from the personnel department of my previous employer. Future is bright, even in spite of the crisis. The one who can prove their value may sleep restfully.