BUT ARE THEIR STATEMENTS SATISFACTORY?
Two of the four brands caught advertising for unpaid interns to work on their company’s magazine have issued statements explaining their position.
STATEMENT FROM SUPERDRUG:
“At Superdrug we take the safety and wellbeing of our colleagues very seriously and would like to confirm that we do not employ unpaid interns in any of our stores or at our head office. We work with a number of agencies who may have people on work experience in their office working on their projects. We have asked them to clarify the status of all such individuals.”
EMAIL FROM WEIGHT WATCHERS:
Hi Tanya,
Thank you for your email and for bringing this to our attention. As you know already Weight Watchers magazine is run by River Publishing, therefore they will be coming back to you with a response in due course as it is an issue relating to them directly that you are questioning.
I have copied in Mary Frances, the editor of Weight Watchers magazine over at River Publishing. She is fully aware of your enquiry and will be in touch with you.
Kind Regards,
Alison Cotton
PR Manager
Weight Watchers UK Ltd
I am pleased that these companies have provided a response to what is a very serious complaint. It’s more than Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have provided so far (what is wrong with these supermarkets?).
However, looking at these emails next to the one that I sent to them, I can’t help feeling that they have left a number of serious questions completely unanswered. More specifically, that number is four – because that is the number of questions I asked:
1) What is Weight Watchers’ / Superdrug’s policy on using unpaid interns throughout your business? Are you aware of the law that anybody deemed to be a ‘worker’ (rather than a true ‘volunteer’) must be paid at least the minimum wage, regardless of whether they are willing to work unpaid?
2) Was Weight Watchers / Superdrug aware of the ad, before I brought it to your attention? If you were unaware of it, is this something you will be speaking to your contract publisher River [both Weight Watchers and Superdrug are with River Publishing] about? Whose responsibility do you feel this is? Although I suspect River posted this ad without consulting you, could they argue that your contract with them is not sufficient to cover their staffing costs to run Weight Watchers / Superdrug magazine? Since the magazine (and the ad) both carry the Weight Watchers / Superdrug brand, so I assume you feel you have some responsibility for this?
3) Now that you have been made aware of this ad, will you be removing it? Will this internship be scrapped – or will you still be recruiting for this role but as a paid position?
4) Graduate Fog’s users feel that the big companies like Weight Watchers / Superdrug should be taking the lead on this issue and setting a good example. Too many companies are taking advantage of young people’s desperation to find work and gain experience as a way of cutting their own staff costs. What steps will you take to ensure that Weight Watchers / Superdrug – and none of your suppliers – will use unpaid interns in the future?
What do you reckon? Do you believe these companies are taking this story seriously? Or are we being fobbed off?
(I’ve heard nothing from River by the way – and both statements arrived around 6pm last night…)
Excellent!! I am glad someone is questioning them, especially big companies (who can obviously afford to pay) but who don’t produce their mags in-house. I’m sure they will just blame each other.
My favourite intern ad recently was for Tesco magazine, who offered a 6 month unpaid internship (through a publishing company). However I see so many that are for obscure publications, but turn out to be attached to massive media companies who make massive profits.
I myself am thinking of starting a name and shame campaign after an article I read in the Guardian. On the one hand the article complained about the exploitation and exclusivity of internships, then on the other, the Guardian do not pay people doing work experience, no longer offer traineeships, and only offer 15 bursaries a year to aspiring journalists.
aha! I see you have covered the Tesco one- silly me!
and finally (!!!) this is one I saw on Gorkana recently (though it has now gone):
‘Askamum.co.uk,
Askamum.co.uk, the official website for Mother & Baby magazine and Pregnancy & birth magazine, is looking for an enthusiastic intern to support the team.
We are looking for a student on their summer holiday with a great writing style and an interest in online journalism. Experience in web publishing is a bonus but training will be given.
You will be involved in all aspects of the website from writing and uploading news stories, researching new content and reworking our magazine features for web use. There will also be general admin tasks.
We will pay expenses and ideally are looking for a someone full time to cover the whole summer.
Please apply with CV and short covering letter to editor@askamum.co.uk‘
The whole of summer?!?!
The magazines and website are published by Bauer media.
I wish I had copies of the many others I have seen over the past six months.
@Lynsey – thanks for all your comments! I’m always pleased to see someone as angry about this as I am!
Unfortunately, too many grads seem not to even realise that the way they’re being treated is completely illegal – as well as being unethical – and just accept that this is the way things have always been. But that’s just not true – it wasn’t always like this – which is why I think we need to spread the word about this issue among grads and start shouting loud and clear that we won’t put up with it!
Also, you’re right about the number of publishing companies advertising unpaid interns – and I actually saw the one for askamum.co.uk and made a note of it. Unfortunately, magazines using unpaid interns is nothing new – I worked unpaid when breaking into journalism back in 2002, although back then it there was a much higher chance it would lead to paid work much sooner, as there were many fewer grads around…
Although this is clearly terrible, when I spotted the Tesco, Sainsbury’s etc ads, I realised that was a much bigger ‘story’ that would be more likely to be picked up by the national press (fingers x’ed) and ignite a debate about unpaid internships as a whole.
Magazines and newspapers (and TV channels) are very unlikely to run stories about how badly the media treat their young employees – because they all know they do it themselves!
However, a story about one of the supermarket giants doing it is much more appealing…
Do you have any proof about the Guardian using unpaid work experience people? We need to be a bit careful about saying that they definitely do this if you dont’ have proof. I’ve seen a few ads for the newspapers asking for interns, but they generally stick to specifying that the placements are short-term – typically either 2 weeks or a month.
While this is not legal either (!) it is in line with a set of industry guidelines set up by Skillset. Whether you think Skillset (whoever they are!) have the right to say what is and isn’t okay (and effectively legitimize these companies undercutting the minimum wage laws) is another matter!
It really does make me angry! On the one hand I want to get ahead in my career and know that work experience and internships are a great way to do it, yet on the other hand I don’t want to be a part of an underground economy that excludes the majority of people.
But whilst people still take part in it (which is totally understandable with how hard it is to get any job at the moment) nothing will change. Companies know that there are people willing to work for free.
The only way I can see it changing is legislation, as employers seem to take no responsibility for their own part in it.
It is a very good point that the issue may get more attention focussing on supermarkets. Also I’m aware that other retailers offer unpaid intern positions. Urban Outfitters and Selfridges are two, offering positions in PR and communications.
Also a good point, I don’t have proof that the Guardian don’t pay, though I have heard generally that they, and other nationals don’t pay people doing work experience. I also can’t say I’ve ever seen any advertisments for work experience on nationals. I believe it’s a case of knowing someone more than anything, which is another issue itself.
I would say well done to Elle magazine though, who I’ve seen advertising for paid 6 month internships
@Lynsey Barber
Re legistlation – InternAware say there is actually no need for any new laws here – interns are very clearly covered under the existing minimum wage laws, which insist that anybody doing a job that has set hours and responsibilities and is contributing value to the employer (and is not work shadowing or doing it as part of their course) must be paid for their contribution. The problem is ENFORCING this! I would like to see politicians publicly condemn the practice of using unpaid interns – but at present they have refused. My fear is that they are putting their relationship with business (who they like to keep sweet) above young people’s welfare (and rights). If I’m right, I think that’s pretty disgusting.
Re newspapers – I know that there are lots of stories about people working unpaid on newspapers – but again, we need proof if we’re going to start naming names. For legal reasons I should state that Graduate Fog has absolutely no reason to think that the Guardian uses unpaid interns.
I also agree that it is rare to see internships for these newspapers advertised – but this may not be quite as damning as you think. I think a lot of them rely on the best applicants having the nous to contact them about possible placements. It’s a myth that it’s a legal requirement to advertise all vacancies – in fact, many companies don’t advertise (which is a point I stress in the Advice page How to find vacancies). Anybody, from any background, is free to find out who to contact and send them an email introducing themselves and enquiring about opportunities.
Re Urban Outfitters and Selfridges – do you have any proof that these companies run unpaid internships? Until you can present it (have you seen an ad?), I must stress to anybody reading that this is an unsubstantiated claim. To Graduate Fog’s knowledge, neither of these companies are involved in running unpaid internships.
Re Elle – Yes, i was encouraged to see them paying, too! Likewise GLAMOUR mag. Could the tide be turning?
I would like to add that all comments I have made here are my own personal opinion, and not those of Graduate Fog.
THIS JUST IN FROM WEIGHT WATCHERS MAGAZINE (28 July, 14.10):
My response:
BTW, I didn’t enjoy the lecture on why internships are beneficial to wannabe journalists, but chose to ignore it as I’d already made my points in my earlier emails.
Might be worth asking if all their positions meet the NMW requirements.
Presumably, apart from being illegal, positions that fail to meet the NMW would leave the worker uninsured and the employer liable which could be very damaging for both (should the worst happen). Afterall, what insurance company is going to pay up when an illegal contract of work, written or implied, is evident.
Hi everyone , I’ve been doing an internship at River Publishing until I gave it up since we were not being taught in any special subject .
We were doing all day mechanical job as to mail out hundreds of magazines .
Even it was completly legal because it was part of a course which I did in my country I think it was not fair since they make some profit saving money in staff whilst they didn’t bother our training .
@deeprules
Thanks for your comment – it actually raises interesting questions about whether some ‘internships’ should even be allowed for students. As you say, just because you’re studying, does that mean companies get to use your labour for free, whilst not even giving you any decent training in return? I thought universities were reasonably good at monitoring these placements, no? Did you get a chance to tell yours how your placement had gone?