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Did you just complete a summer with interns? Have you been thinking that they were free labor? Think again. Interns are not free. By accepting interns, you have taken on a cost to your company—it’s just not in the form of cash payment to the intern. Rather, the cost to the company is the cost of your time spent training, teaching and educating. And if you’re a person who commands a significant salary, the cost of an intern with whom you spend a good deal of time, is more than the cost of an intern who is managed by someone with a smaller salary. Therefore, the cost of the intern is directly based on the salary of the employee investing time in the intern’s development.
Further, internships are exchanges whereby someone new to the field gets to learn on a company’s time and in exchange her initial contributions to the field get to benefit that company. There is a heavy educational responsibility that companies have to offer interns. Preparing for their arrival and on-boarding them should take time, just as it does for new employees. They can only offer you value if you first invest in their learning.
Considering an intern for the fall? Consider first if you have the ability to dedicate a salaried employee’s time on her training. And remember, in no time today’s interns are going to be looking for permanent full time work. And they will advance in their careers and become talent that your company would be lucky to have. So why not develop the reputation of being a company that is desirable to the next generation of workers? By investing in your interns, you’ll really be investing in the workforce of your field for years to come.