Company boasts underpaying for interns
A company has been lambasted for boasting about the savings that can be made by undercutting pay for interns and those on work placements.
In a discovery made by the Guardian over the weekend, a company has been criticised for boasting to employers about the savings that can be made by employing interns and those on work placements by being classed as 'in training', rather than an intern and a full employee.
The firm, Placement UK, has been accused of undercutting the national minimum wage, by being able to employ graduates and students as part of 'training programmes' rather than proper internships. The result of this means that employers can pay around £700 a month, way off what would be expected for interns earning the national minimum wage.
Placement UK also brags about the way in which interns can be easily replaced for the ease of employers, its website mentions the idea of a 'Rolling Programme' where graduates and students train their successors when the placement comes to an end to 'maximum continuity and performance, with minimal disruption and management input.' As well as highlighting the benefits for students that do this, 'Sudents (sic) always relish the prospect of being a trainer, and this can hugely enhance their experience and future employment prospects.'
Paul Brown, owner of Placement UK, told the Guardian he had the intention to rework the wording on the website and admitted it was 'provocative'. Brown also admitted that National Minimum Wage enforcers had been in touch with the company, but with no further was action being taken.
Co-Director of Intern Aware, Ben Lyons, was appalled at the company's behaviour. He told the Guardian, 'Placement UK's website boasts about offering interns' services at rates 'substantially below what they are really worth. It's wrong for this company to make a quick buck out of young people's desperation for experience. By paying less than the minimum wage to do real work, this also risks undercutting low-paid workers.'
Lyons added 'Good employers know that interns shouldn't be treated as a rolling supply of cheap labour, and properly invest in internship schemes as a way to recruit the next generation of full-time staff.'
By James Howell
View our Internships and Work placements
Related stories