BONUS CASE STUDY WITH SOLUTION

Persuasive Organizational Message Flowing Upward: When Is an Intern Not an Employee?

As a manager at Marketing Plus, a small Los Angeles-based public relations and marketing firm, you think your company should be offering internships. With all the colleges in the Los Angeles area, you would have a wide audience for an internship program. In addition, your company could use the extra help and perhaps even the creativity of about-to-graduate college students.

You recently read about Nickerson PME, a 10-person Boston area marketing and public relations firm. Owner Lisa Nickerson offers a year-round internship program. She calls participants "associates" to make them feel less like "lowly interns" and more like members of the staff. Her interns receive course credit and work experience but do not earn a paycheck. Instead Nickerson teaches them to perform tasks like preparing press releases and promoting them to clients. The arrangement results in valuable help around the office without draining the budget. Nickerson says, "If you take the time to put together a good program, you don't have to pay the student. An abundance of students want that type of hands-on client experience."

You believe that Los Angeles college students would be eager to gain experience at a real company and fill in their résumés with solid work experience. The problem is that your boss resists internship programs because he has heard that interns are really employees who must be paid. He told you in a recent conversation that he is unsure of the fine line that separates employees from interns and he doesn't want to violate any labor laws.

Your Task: Write a persuasive e-mail message to Dick Elders (richard.elders@elders.com), founder and CEO of Marketing Plus. Explain how interns are different from employees. Use the Internet to research the topic and learn what six requirements help the government determine whether an intern is an employee who should be paid. Use persuasive strategies you have studied, but stay focused on the conviction that interns do not have to be paid as employees. You are on a first-name basis with Dick.

Proposed Solution

From:     (your.name@elders.com)
To:          Richard.elders@elders.com
Cc:
Subject:  An Intern Program Can Be Legal, Beneficial, and Inexpensive

Dick,

Let's face it. Marketing Plus could occasionally use extra help in meeting our deadlines, talking to clients, and preparing campaigns. We could also use fresh ideas. At the same time, we could help college students gain marketing experience as unpaid interns.

Many firms like ours are using student interns to make a valuable contribution to the participating companies. Soon-to-be-graduated students are eager for the hands-on experience, and we would gain the extra help we often need during marketing campaigns. Interns might also bring fresh ideas, which are always appreciated at Marketing Plus.

I know you are concerned about whether interns should be paid and how to differentiate an intern from an employee. I've done some research, and here are six criteria set forth by the Department of Labor that explain when learners/trainees (interns) may be unpaid:

1. The training is similar to that which would be given in a vocational school.
2. The training is for the benefit of the students.
3. The students do not displace regular employees, but work under the close observation of a regular employee or supervisor.
4. The employer provides the training and derives no immediate advantage from the activities of students, and, on occasion, the operations may actually be impeded by the training.
5. The students are not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the training period.
6. The employer and the student understand that the student is not entitled to wages for the time spent in training.

I am convinced that an intern program at Marketing Plus could be legal, beneficial, and inexpensive. If you agree, please tell me when I could talk with you with ideas about how to implement an internship program for our company.