Privilege | Sunday Times staff say workplace 'filled with unpaid interns'

Internships are traditionally seen as an ideal entry into the workplace; young adults are able to learn their trade from experts, get the experience they need with on-the-job training, and earn enough money to live whilst building their CV.

However, the rising trend of seeing interns as sources of unpaid labour has created an unsustainable culture for young workers without the means to support themselves outside of earning monthly wages. One of the latest companies to come under scrutiny for such practices is the British newspaper The Sunday Times.

The debate amongst current and former Times employees was triggered on Saturday after Columnist Emma Gannon published an article on the title’s news site called: ‘Only rich kids can afford to take unpaid internships. How elitist is that?’

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The report stated that in the UK, 48% of young adults had taken an unpaid internship and argued that the practise should be made illegal – yet immediately, the article received backlash as former employees stated that The Times was guilty of such practices.