Enternships Blog
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The Legalities of Hiring Interns for Your BusinessPosted on Monday 18 May 2009 at 12:46PM by rajeebdey |
Today we have a guest blogger - Danvers Baillieu of Winston & Strawn LLP - who shares his insights into the legal aspects of using interns (or enterns!) in your business in the UK:
At the Bootlaw session in April, I addressed the topic of using interns in a business. This is a interesting area, because everyone wants to do it but there are no hard and fast rules and no easy guidelines for you to follow: it’s a grey area.
The shades of grey apply particularly in relation to the requirements of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 (NMWA 1998) – the introduction of which was a key manifesto pledge of New Labour in the 1997 election, back in the day when they actually tried to keep their manifesto pledges.
The NMWA says that anyone who is a “worker” – not an employee – is entitled to the minimum wage - currently, £5.73 for workers over 22 and £4.77 for 18 to 22 year olds – and in the Act, worker means:
“an individual who has entered into or works under (or, where the employment has ceased, worked under)—
(a) a contract of employment; or
(b) any other contract, whether express or implied and (if it is express) whether oral or in writing, whereby the individual undertakes to do or perform personally any work or services for another party to the contract whose status is not by virtue of the contract that of a client or customer of any profession or business undertaking carried on by the individual;”
Section 54(3), NMWA 1998
Or, in plain English, it means anyone who works for you in any capacity, but is not employed by someone else to work for you – so your lawyer, accountant and plumber are all excluded if that was your concern.Against this backdrop, the main justification for having an unpaid intern is they are under no obligation to you to perform any work or service, in contrast to the obligations of an employee to turn up and do the work he or she is given.
This is very simple to demonstrate where you have a young person, probably still in education, doing a shadow placements, and are there only to observe (but of little relevance in this context) – but notoriously, in certain industries, there are people working hard, for free, doing essential work which means they are completely relied upon – and this is almost certainly in contravention of the NMWA 1998.
If you are going to give someone meaningful tasks to perform, it makes sense that they should be given the chance to learn as much as possible – so time spent on shadowing, training and other non-productive tasks will show clearly that you are offering something more fulfilling than simply unpaid work.
In this respect, interns should keep learning or accruing valuable experience and it should be recognised that the marginal benefit of working for free runs out pretty quickly, in weeks rather than months, although will depend very much on the task being performed – the more mundane, the shorter the timeframe. Once this period is up, it is time for the intern to move on or for you to bite the bullet and start paying (at least the minimum wage!).
From a practical and legal perspective, interns should not be put under too much pressure to work long hours – in particular, they may need to be working in the evenings to make ends meet so you should not expect to take precedence over that.
You do have the option to help out, and if there are discrete projects where they could be paid by the hour and which otherwise might be outsourced (e.g. making sales calls, data entry etc) then there is no reason not to offer that to them.
If your arrangement was ever looked at by HMRC, which is responsible for enforcement of minimum wage rules, the decision would turn on the facts of the case. If you were investigated, the chances are you would be given the opportunity to compensate your interns and agree to comply with the rules going forward before any penalty is levied.
However, once that concession has been made, the “interns” would retrospectively be viewed as being employees and, depending on length of service, employment law issues could also kick in which might be more expensive to handle if you have previously ignored them.
If you want to contact Danvers about this here are some ways of getting hold of him:
Work profile | LinkedIn | Twitter | Danver's Personal blog
You can also check out: www.bootlaw.com
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Enternships, #msfteis & EU SME WeekPosted on Friday 15 May 2009 at 15:42PM by leah10 |
Enternships trouped off to Prague for the Microsoft European Investor Summit and had an incredible time - meeting lots of great people. There were some particularly cool European start-ups that had made great use of the Microsoft Bizspark technology and support. The event was held as a part of the first ever EU SME week and @bindik tweeted about all the goings on throughout the 2 day seminar - check out #msfteis to read about it.
The week ran from 6th-14th of May and aimed to be a campaign to promote entrepreneurship across Europe. Countries all across Europe got involved and there were hundreds of events celebrating and encouraging small business.
We look forward to many more!
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You're hired—next yearPosted on Sunday 10 May 2009 at 19:08PM by halle |
A friend of mine got a new job, but she won't be starting until next year.
For the rest of the year, she will be traveling the world on the $20K that the employer gave her in exchange for agreeing to start in January 2010.
This is not uncommon; in fact, a recent article in the Economist highlights recent changes in recruitment due to the recession. Allan McKisson of Manpower, an employment-services company, insists that companies should be adopting a “ramp-up plan” and hiring new talent now, to ensure that they are firing on all cylinders when the economy rebounds.
[Some companies now] offer deferred start dates to new hires, giving them six months or a year to travel or do public service. This approach has been embraced by consulting firms, law firms and banks. This seems like a generous compromise from companies that want to secure talent. So what do you think? Would you take a deffered start-date job?
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Sandbox partnershipPosted on Thursday 07 May 2009 at 11:02AM by nazem |
Enternships.com is now partnering with Sandbox. Sandbox is a trusted global network where extraordinary young achievers under 30 come together. It’s an inspiring meeting place where a selection of young thinkers and doers connect, exchange ideas and talk about innovation.
Sandbox will complement Enternships’ services from two sides: It provides exclusive access to the most talented students, as well as to newly founded start-ups that evolve from Sandbox’ match-making activities. With the help of Sandbox Enternships.com will be able to extend their activities from the British market to a global scale.
We are looking forward to a great and fruitful partnership.
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New internships will boost opportunities for graduates this summerPosted on Friday 01 May 2009 at 06:33AM by leah10 |
On Wednesday the government outlined plans for a new initiative to help employers create and offer graduate internships, allowing graduates to kickstart their careers. The announcement about the'Graduate Talent Pool' comes after a long wait following initial mutterings about the National Internship Scheme...but Enternships was hugely encouraged by this step in the right direction!
It is a complete validation of our ethos - that cultivating employability skills and experiencing the workplace prior to taking on a career should be an essential part of a young person's development. Therefore, while the government signs up companies like Network Rail, the Police Service, Marks and Spencer and Microsoft...Enternships will continue to support the long tail by solely targeting the start-up and SME end of the spectrum.
We continue to believe that a culture change is imminent as more and more enterprising young people undertake placements to learn self-efficacy & entrepreneurial intent. Crucially, now more than ever, they will also learn the resilience of a successful entreprenuer and how to embrace failure as a learning experience. They will learn to keep faith in their idea and their inherent ability to create wealth when all rational evidence points to the contrary - optimisim that is key to surviving, and even flourishing during the recession.
For as long as people believe in themselves and are encouraged to risk failure for the chance they will receive massive reward - there is hope for the British economy. Enternships passionately believes that strengthening small business by the regular influx of talented, motivated and innovative young minds...and simultaneously inspiring enterns to start their own ventures, is key to the creation of jobs and the survival of a nation.
We know that by doing so, as far as Britain is concerned, the 2009 recession will not be remembered as a time of self-pity, recrimination and inertia, but instead as a era defined by the maxim:
Fortune favours the brave.
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Life After an MBAPosted on Thursday 30 April 2009 at 09:57AM by nazem |
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Mick Jagger knows a thing or two about taking chances after university..."]
[/caption]
There was a time when being in a rock band was the ultimate in campus cool. Now it seems that once again being in a startup gives you instant cool.
The former blue chips of Wall Street can no longer offer long-term job security and generous end-of-year bonuses, giving this new generation of MBA graduates the impetus to pursue their own business ownership dreams.
If business schools are smart, they will rush to embrace this entrepreneurial generation and give them the tools they need to realize those dreams… Startups in a downturn are hardly new. Cisco, Apple, Gap, and Genentech were all created during recessions.
Matt Symonds for Business Week; April 27, 2009
This quote comes from an interesting article highlighting the role of business schools in the current downturn. Click here to read the full article.
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Fail Fast, Fail Cheap, and Move OnPosted on Wednesday 29 April 2009 at 22:46PM by halle |
In a world where we are judged by measurable returns and "ROI" is the success metric, we often forget that it's okay to fail. In fact, failing a few times may even be your ticket to future success. It keeps you humble, and hopefully teaches you a bunch of what not to dos.
This old Silicon Valley adage ("fail fast, fail cheap, and move on" can-- and should-- be applied to your internship hunt. In this economy, it will undoubtedly take longer to find that perfect placement. And since there are more candidates than opportunities, there will be more rejections and disappointments.
So how do you make sure you learn from failures? If you don't get that internship you wanted, don't be afraid to ask 'why'. What's there to lose? Most likely they'll respond by telling you they were overwhelmed with qualified candidates. So probe deeper. What did the selected candidate do to stand out? A killer resume? Particular skills/experience? A stellar interview? Take this rejection as an opportunity to improve your next job.
A wise mentor once told me: The only barrier to failing fast and failing cheap is your ego. You must be willing to fail, fail, and fail again if you are going to win in today's competitive marketplace. Remember, even if you're falling flat on your face, at least you're still moving forward.
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Tweet Tips for Start-UpsPosted on Wednesday 29 April 2009 at 07:08AM by leah10 |
The fact that Twitter can be an incredible marketing tool is well-documented, but it is useful to have some guidelines when trying to use it effectively. I came across an article for recruiters looking to harness the power of Twitter - the advice was pretty compelling, albeit simple...but then the best advice always is!
1. Create a profile that matches your company's overall brand. Treat twitter as an extension of your company's website and image.
2. Designate a "Twitter person" or set aside time to "tweet." This can be time-consuming so make sure you create defined actions for the time you're spending on Twitter. Twitter can be a highly addictive time-waster so proceed with caution.
3. Decide how you want to use Twitter. You don't need to use Twitter for just one purpose you can definitely use Twitter for multiple purposes. Just make sure you define why you're tweeting and try to remain focused on those goals.
4. Follow others. Remember, Twitter is still a social network, so you want to follow as well as be followed on Twitter. To find those who might be most appropriate for you to follow use www.search.twitter.com. You can enter appropriate keywords to find others who are tweeting using the same keywords. For example: If you want to find people talking about "intellectual property," search twitter using the keywords "intellectual property" and any other words related to the subject.
5. Tweet often; but never spam. You want to tweet at least once a day; but only tweet about things that will interest your followers and never overdo it.
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Enternships.com launches its public beta sitePosted on Monday 27 April 2009 at 16:31PM by rajeebdey |
Enternships has finally launched its public beta website. Thanks to all those who took part in our private beta testing - your feedback was invaluable and you will have already noticed the changes we've implemented as a result of your input!
We're still very keen to hear from you - any thoughts/suggestions about how we can improve the site would be great.
If you know companies looking to recruit entrepreneurial interns / full-time candidates please do help spread the word!
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Emerson & The Trials of being an EntrepreneurPosted on Sunday 26 April 2009 at 19:46PM by leah10 |
A couple of weeks ago I heard a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson that I have wanted to build a blog around ever since, it reads:
Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.
Today I stumbled upon a blog post by Tim Ferriss (of The Four-Hour Week fame). The post was aimed at helping entrepreneurs push past the barrier of self-doubt that is wont to descend from time to time...and it also encapsulates Emerson's quote brilliantly.
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