The hospitality industry could learn from insurers when it comes to treating interns – especially when it expects them to clean toilets for free.
That industry is coming under fire for the practice of using unpaid interns to do the dirty work normally done by paid cleaning staff – like scrubbing bathroom floors and toilets.
One young woman, 21-year-old Samantha May, was expected to clean 16 rooms a day at an airport hotel for three months in 2011.
“There were days I didn’t want to get up in the morning, mostly because I wasn’t getting paid,” May said. “I was only there for the experience. Some people, it does bother them because they would like to get paid, especially if they are doing a lot of work.”
It is a practice that is frowned upon by one Canadian insurance company, who regularly take on interns – but make a point of paying them the same as any other employee.
“They’re not just here to help do the photocopying, as I think a lot of interns are used for that,” Gary Hirst, national director of Burns & Wilcox Canada, told HRM Online. “And I think that is why those individuals will end up leaving, because they think ‘this is quite boring,’ and they aren’t used for anything substantial. They want to be taken seriously, and receive some true training.” (continued.)
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For the past five years, Burns & Wilcox has attracted top-talent university graduates through their Kaufman Emerging Leaders Program (KELP), designed to provide hands-on experience and comprehensive training to develop knowledge of the insurance industry and cultivate leadership qualities.
“What we have endeavoured to do is follow the lead of the banks, the pension funds, the money market people – they are very, very good at attracting top talent,” said Hirst. “We need top talent as well; hence the KELP program was born.”
May was still in high school when she started her internship, she told the Toronto Star, but many of her peers who were in a similar situation were in college.
And what made matters worse – aside from doing the work for free – were the personal habits of the guests at the hotel.
“Some men are very disgusting,” said May. “Some ladies just don’t care about hair all over the place. I found a used condom in the bed once. That wasn’t very pretty.”
May worked at a hotel that was granted a franchise by Marriott. It has since changed hands this year.
The new owners have stated that they “don’t misuse interns,” according to Scott Allison, vice president of Marriott’s Canadian operations. (continued.)
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“It’s also a fairness thing. These are young people looking for their first career,” Allison added. “You want them to be equipped to enter the workforce with good education, but also with a view they haven’t been taken advantage of.”
One example of an internship in the hospitality industry is Humber College’s Tourism and Hospitality Management diploma program. It involves three semesters of classes that are followed by an unpaid work term, involving companies such as InterContinental, Hyatt, Four Seasons, Sheraton, Radisson and Fairmont hotel chains, to name a few.
May, who still wants to be in the industry but is enrolled in Humber, understands she is expected to do another unpaid internship – but will be doing it at a different hotel.
The controversy of unpaid interns erupted this summer, when one of Vancouver’s Fairmont Waterfront solicited an unpaid intern to clear tables.
