…YET CLAIM THEY ARE “PASSIONATE” ABOUT PROTECTING YOUNG WORKERS FROM EXPLOITATION
*GRADUATE FOG EXCLUSIVE*
Topshop has admitted to hiring interns — and paying them only £3.50 a day. These young workers are expected to work five days a week from 9am-5pm doing tasks which appear to require skill and responsibility. The interns are reimbursed for their travel expenses (within zones 1-6) but the only actual payment they receive is £3.50 per day towards their lunch.
Yet when asked to explain how they feel their internships fit with the UK’s minimum wage law – as part of our Pay Your Interns campaign – the high street chain was unable to offer a satisfactory answer. Instead, they insisted that internships are “an issue we are passionate about.” They are “very mindful at Topshop about the negative side to work experience and internships that exists in many workplaces today” and it is an issue they “work hard to set ourselves apart from the industry on.” The spokesperson — from Topshop’s HR department — also said:
“I can assure you that at Topshop, as across the Arcadia Group, we have a clearly defined approach and policy to what work experience is and isn’t.”
Unfortunately, that’s not the impression we got from her preceding emails. In those, she cheerfully told us:
“What they are involved in varies which departments they are in!”
When we pressed her for more detail on the tasks given to interns, she said:
“An example of what design work experience would get involved in is below:
– General assisting of the knit and jersey design team- photocopying/printing, helping out in everyday activities and general development of garments, motifs and designs
– Trend research; on-line, magazines and fashion blogs/tumblers
– Created trend packs for knit and jersey
– Small creative projects – motif research and development using Photoshop and hand drawn designs
Annotation and specking up of designs”
We don’t understand all this jargon, but we think it sounds like much more than work shadowing. These seem to be proper tasks which would need to be done by a paid employee if the intern was not there. We asked them how long these internships typically last, but they have not yet answered this question.
The retailer was approached as part of Graduate Fog’s Pay Your Interns campaign in which we are asking big brands to clarify their policy on internships and publishing the results online.
We are particularly puzzled by Topshop’s tight-fistedness towards their junior staff when young people make up a large part of their core customer base (typical shoppers are aged 16-34). Topshop is also the market leader of young people’s high-street fashion. So wouldn’t you expect them to show a little more respect towards their young workers, by paying them properly?
It’s not like Topshop is short of a few quid. Owned by Kate Moss’s close friend Sir Philip Green, the brand has an annual turnover of £2.8 billion and reported pre-tax profits of £214 million last year. It is part of the Arcadia Group, which also includes Dorothy Perkins, Burton and Miss Selfridge. Topshop is the only high street brand to show at London Fashion Week and counts Beyonce, US Vogue Editor Anna Wintour and Samantha Cameron as customers. It also has an aggressive expansion programme — Topshop aims to double its sales by 2015. Are unpaid interns written into this plan?
We felt that Topshop’s email outlining the work interns were expected to do raised several questions, which you would probably like us to ask. So we emailed back:
From: Graduate Fog
To: Topshop HR
Date: 21 September 2011Hi
Thanks again for all your emails regarding internships at Topshop. However, I have some concerns about their contents – and would be grateful if you could answer the following questions too?
– From the description you gave me of the tasks that the interns do, it sounds as if they do quite a bit of proper, useful work for Topshop – yet you pay them less than the national minimum wage (NMW). Can you explain how you feel this fits with our NMW law? There is no legal definition of an ‘intern’ but the legislation states that anybody who fits the criteria of being a ‘worker’ (with set hours and responsibilities, not free to come and go as they please, not just work shadowing and not doing is as part of their course) must be paid at least the NMW for their work. (This is £5.93 for over-21s, rising to £6.08 on 1 October). All employers must pay this and an intern cannot waive their right to these wages, even if they say they are prepared to work for free in order to gain experience.
– If you are concerned that Topshop’s current policy on using unpaid interns may not fit with the National Minimum Wage law, are you prepared to review it now that we have brought it to your attention?
At Graduate Fog, we believe that unpaid internships exploit those who do them — and exclude those who can’t afford to do them. We believe these internships are getting longer and longer — with less chance of a job at the end of them. We believe that it is a myth that unpaid internships lead to paid, permanent jobs — now, they are actually replacing paid, permanent jobs. Many employers are unaware of the damage that the practice is doing to young people’s futures. Is Topshop one of them?
With thanks again
Here is Topshop’s response in full:
From: Topshop HR
To: Graduate Fog
Date: 22 September 2011Hi
Thanks for your email, I am aware of the issues in the wider industry that you’ve alluded to.
I appreciate that this issue is of great interest to you and we’re very mindful at Topshop about the negative side to work experience and internships that exists in many workplaces today. I can reassure you that at Topshop, as across the Arcadia Group, we have a clearly defined approach and policy to what work experience is and isn’t.
It is an issue that we are very passionate about within the Brand, and which we work hard to set ourselves apart from the industry on. If you would like further information about how we manage work experience within our business we would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss this face to face as we are continually looking to improve on the value we add to our work experience placements.
Kind regards
Hm.
This is not the first time Topshop has become the target of a grass-roots campaign about the company’s principles. The brand has also been singled out by UK Uncut for avoiding paying tax in the UK, by registering the company to Sir Philip’s wife Tina, who lives in the tax haven of Monaco. This (completely legal) tax dodge costs the British taxpayer £285m, enough to pay the salaries of 9,000 NHS nurses. The ninth richest man in Britain — Sir Philip is also an “efficiency adviser” to the Government.
This latest revelation about Topshop’s use of unpaid interns is unlikely to go down well with the company’s young customers, who are feeling the squeeze thanks to graduate debt, the soaring cost of living and plummeting starting salaries. Increasingly, companies who use unpaid interns are being accused of taking advantage of young people’s desperation to gain experience in order to maximise their profits. Is the tide about to turn against Topshop?
*Do you shop at Topshop?
Do you think less of the brand now you know they pay their interns so little? Have you ever interned at Topshop? What tasks were you given — and were you paid for your work?
What is the Pay Your Interns campaign?
Follow:
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…or by friending us on Facebook
Tax dodgers shouldn’t receive titles
I love how they actually manage not to answer a single question in that email response. ‘Nice new internship policy – what breed of law-ducking scum is it?’
Great news folks – a big newspaper is interested in picking up this story!
So if you’d like to explain to them below exactly why you’re so unimpressed with Topshop – and why unpaid internships AREN’T helpful and ARE an important issue – now’s your chance…
Why should a company like this, that makes its money through its trade with young people, then dump on the very same group by using them as unpaid workers? It shows the contempt they have for the people they affect to most value; if its a choice between John Lewis and Top Shop, I’m heading through the doors of the former!
basically which ever way you look at it, unpaid internships have negative consequences. be it the lack of social mobility, loss of junior roles from the job market or strain put on parents subsidising their children well into their 20’s. It’s a lose lose situation.
The only winners are companies who accept unpaid workers under the guise of work experience and save money. Once upon a time companies offered junior level roles with less pay and more training to help young people develop a career and feed themselves at the same time.
What went wrong?
This trend toward companies who can in fact afford to use paid, junior level employees but choose not to is dangerous. We have already seen companies cutting costs by outsourcing their production to countries with less regulation (i.e China, India, Thailand, etc.). Outsourcing garment manufacturing has resulted in a loss of jobs, look only to New York which used to be a textile hub. Instead of outsourcing their creative work, companies like Topshop are preying on young workers to partake in modern day slave labour.
This type of behaviour disgusts me, but also makes me think “Why aren’t we holding these companies accountable?” We need to stop voting for these companies with questionable business practices whether it be slave labour (which is essentially what unpaid internships are) or outsourcing. Enough is enough! I am tired of filling the pockets of someone who is essentially telling me to “piss off” every time I buy their trousers. We need to remind these companies that we don’t need them, but they need us. Once they realise that, then maybe they will start treating us like their clients instead of the other way around.
A less aggressive approach than boycotting the brand altogether would be for young people to stop accepting these unpaid internships. If they don’t have our labour, then compnies will either realise that they don’t need to fill the position, or they will pay someone to do it. Based on the job descriptions though, I would guess the latter.
I did an unpaid internship with an American political figure this summer I found their internship scheme to be incredibly hypocritical since here is a party that fights the Republican party day in and day out for equality and job creation, yet they won’t even pay their own interns! Here’s my experience while “working there”.
1) Interns are expendable even though we were doing work that was integral to the campaign. In fact during a meeting, the campaign director made a comment about how they are “getting more interns at the end of the summer”. Clearly he didn’t see interns as being permanent employees but instead rotating figures.
2) They can pay someone $20,000 to speak at an event, but can’t pay an intern $2800 for the summer (25 hours a week for minimum wage of this location).
3) They expected us to come in for “regular hours” yet we had to all use our own computers and pay for our own transportation.
I have done 3 internships and 1 volunteer position and I’ve realized that during the 1 paid internship was the most motivated I’ve been in an internship. I worked hard and LOVED the work I was doing (it was for a Canadian PR firm oddly enough). The other internships I felt like I had no value to society. Every day I lugged my heavy laptop on a 20 min walk, 30 min bus ride, and 15 min subway ride managed to chip away at my self worth. As soon as I was offered a paid real job, I quit with a day’s notice. I didn’t even feel bad about it.
Doing an unpaid internship in a different city has left me with nothing but debt. Since I couldn’t find a paid job anywhere (I even tried Hooters), I had to use my credit card all the time. At the end of the day I realized I was PAYING not being PAID to do all this work. I was doing what a paid assistant should have been doing, I even increased the interaction of their followers on social media. I showed value to the organization and all they could do was say “we’ll get another intern”.
Unpaid internships are not only financially damaging, but psychologically. We are taught from a young age that if you work, you need to be compensated for your work. It has nothing to do with feeling entitled. “Experience” is not sufficient compensation because it won’t pay my bills, rent, or food. Unpaid internships are essentially a mind trick. You are made to feel like you are incredibly lucky for securing this opportunity, and out of everyone you are the “special one”. Your education, extracurricular activities, previous internships, writing samples, and interviews are all “good enough” to get you an unpaid internship so why not a paid one? I would prefer for someone to turn me down for employment because I lack certain skills, than perpetuate the “myth” that you are lucky.
The irony of this experience is that the supposedly “progressive” political party who was fighting for job creation wouldn’t even create jobs in their own office.
So as a former intern 4 times over, I am incredibly unimpressed with Topshops’ tax dodging and contempt for the people who buy into their brand. Why they don’t see it that way, I’m not sure. We are their target demographic. My parents certainly wouldn’t shop at Topshop.
During the summer vacation my 21 year old daughter completed a 4 week “internship” with the Arcadia Group.
The response by Arcadia/Topshop (as reported in the Observer on 9th October 2011) that “We offer unpaid work experience placements here, not internships, where the individual spends their time shadowing a member or members of the team and learning about what they do. They do not have a set role to perform, or set hours in which to do it.” is a gross misrepresentation of the the truth. In fact based on my daughter’s experience:
– interns are required to work set office hours and to perform a range of tasks which, if they were not available, would have to be undertaken by paid employees;
– there was no material element of job shadowing or learning about what the various jobs of the team entailed, no attempt to provide useful experience or insight as a means of helping them on their first steps into the world of retail fashion;
– when for whatever reason, an intern was unable to attend work there was real concern as to how the permanent employees would cope without them;
– the HR department is required to provide a constant stream of unpaid labour to support the business. If a prospective intern dropped out late in the day there is real pressure to replace them.
From what I observed I believe that were Arcadia to be subject to challenge at an employment tribunal the conclusion would be that they are breaching National Minimum Wage legislation. But what young person has the resources to mount such a challenge or is prepared to risk acquiring a reputation as a trouble maker potentially jeopardising a future real employment opportunity elsewhere in the future?
@Chris
Thanks for your comment. I too was interested in the statement from Topshop – as it appears to conflict with what their spokesperson told us, which was that their interns / work experience people (it doesn’t matter what you call them) clearly do do real work, and aren’t just work shadowing. And they said they work 9 to 5, so how they don’t have “set hours” seems rather a mystery. I’m going to go back to them and ask them to clarify this discrepancy… Watch this space.
Have you interned unpaid for Topshop – or any other well-known brand? Fancy some free money?
Check out Interns Fight for Justice – the new campaign from Graduate Fog and Intern Aware. We are looking for interns who are feeling brave / angry / skint enough to challenge their former employers and request the wages they are owed for the work they did unpaid.
Even if your internship was a while ago and you agreed to work unpaid at the time, that doesn’t matter. The minimum wage works out at around £1,000 a month, so depending on the length of your internship you could be in line to receive a tidy sum!
Just get in touch with us for more information:
https://graduatefog.co.uk/2012/2080/interns-fight-justice-campaign/
Thanks!
Graduate Fog x
PS. None of this will cost you a penny!