To pay or not to pay?

Recently big companies, like Burger King and Tesco, got themselves into trouble for being part of government campaign which involved people working for them for nothing more then jobseeker's allowance. This sparked a lot of debate about whether people in these situations should be paid or glad for a job, and so I thought I haven't ranted about the job market for a while.

I can understand not paying people as part of work experience - and in my eyes that is one or two weeks shadowing people in the work place. Whilst I was a journalism student I did work experience stints like this regularly and fully appreciated the experience. In some places I got a few bylines, and although not paid they went out of their way to say thanks with a free lunch and a glowing reference.

But when you start finding unpaid internships for a month or three months then that is rude. Yes I understand that times are tough but you can't get round that by having a free dispensable worker. You don't get the quality of work you want, and more importantly, nobody feels particularly valued. Sitting at a desk, working in a shop for over 30 hours a week constitutes as a full time job and that means payment with money. Even if the money is just minimum wage, or a little over it that is better than nothing.

Not only can these huge companies afford it, it makes people feel like they are doing something in return for something. It feels crap to know that you went out all day to sit in an office to know that at the end of the day you can't afford to pay your way, let alone go to the pub to relax. 

As we having a bad time economically this is the time to change the system and make people feel valued, rather than see it as an opportunity to screw more people over and achieve nothing.

Photo: Guudmorning! via Flickr