Original Date: March 25, 2019

My HR career started with an internship as an undergraduate student at Elmira College and a local organization, Kennedy Valve Manufacturing, typical HR duties, with opportunities to sit in on grievance and arbitration meetings.  Almost 13-years later, this challenging internship provided me opportunities, which laid the foundation for my career.

Structured and project driven internships provide students great opportunities to obtain real world experience, that will make a difference as they grow into their careers.  Employers can bring interns in at a relatively inexpensive cost to the organization (or free) and have readily available access to a pool of applicants for potential hire after they graduate.  Collaborating with local colleges can also improve community relationships.  Set the tone as an organization and look for opportunities to hire and grow your internship programs.  It does make a difference to future employment opportunities for younger workers.

Internship Benefits to Interns:

  1. “Interns can gain a real-world view inside a particular industry or job before they devote significant time and money to qualify themselves for such positions. This may help them eliminate wasteful “false starts” in their educational and career choices.
  2. Interns can gain realistic expectations about workplace demands and rewards.
  3. By acquiring organizational knowledge, an intern can be at a competitive advantage over job applicants without internship experience.
  4. Similarly, an internship can be viewed as an expanded job interview; the intern has ample opportunity to display his or her best attributes to a potential employer over an extended period. The typical job applicant, on the other hand, may have only two or three hours of time with the organization before the hiring decision is made.
  5. Even if an internship does not blossom into a regular position with the organization, the intern will enlarge his or her network of contacts in the working world and will probably be able to add a few names to his or her list as references when applying for positions elsewhere.”[i]
  1. Pipeline of talent. Internships can provide any organizations with a pipeline of talent to grow and develop inside the organization.  Treat interns as you would want to be treated in an internship or as an intern.  Yes, we do have filing and other administrative work that needs to be completed.  However, this should not be the only task assigned to an intern during their time with our organizations.  Make this a memorable experience and provide significant feedback on performance.

 

The goals of an internship program should follow the SMARTER paradigm. The goals should be:

    1. Specific, clear and understandable.
    2. Measurable, verifiable and results-oriented.
    3. Attainable.
    4. Relevant to the mission.
    5. Time-bound with a schedule and milestones.
  1. If you want to add true value add ER to SMART(ER); Evaluate & Revisit

 

“The seven factors of primary beneficiary test for unpaid interns and students:

  1. “The extent to which the intern and the employer clearly understand that there is no expectation of compensation. Any promise of compensation, express or implied, suggests that the intern is an employee—and vice versa.
  2. The extent to which the internship provides training that would be similar to that which would be given in an educational environment, including the clinical and other hands-on training provided by educational institutions.
  3. The extent to which the internship is tied to the intern’s formal education program by integrated coursework or the receipt of academic credit.
  4. The extent to which the internship accommodates the intern’s academic commitments by corresponding to the academic calendar.
  5. The extent to which the internship’s duration is limited to the period in which the internship provides the intern with beneficial learning.
  6. The extent to which the intern’s work complements, rather than displaces, the work of paid employees while providing significant educational benefits to the intern.
  7. The extent to which the intern and the employer understand that the internship is conducted without entitlement to a paid job at the conclusion of the internship.”[ii]

Fact Sheet #71: Internship Programs Under The Fair Labor Standards Act

NY State Wage Requirements for Interns in For-Profit Businesses

Wage Requirements for Interns in Not-For-Profit Businesses 

Massachusetts Paid Family Medical Leave:

“Beginning in 2021, most Massachusetts employees will be eligible, per benefit year, for to up to 26 total weeks, in the aggregate, of paid family and medical leave. Covered individuals are eligible for up to 12 weeks of family leave in a benefit year to care for a family member with a serious health condition or bond with a new child, and up to 20 weeks of paid leave to address their own serious health condition…The program will be funded by a new payroll tax at the initial rate of 0.63 percent, which goes into effect beginning July 1, 2019. Benefit amounts will be determined based on a percentage of the employee’s weekly income, up to a maximum of $850 per week, with the maximum benefit adjusted periodically, and with the department administering the benefit program.”[iii]  Continue to watch for changes and updates to this upcoming law.

EEO-1 Pay-Data Reporting Decision Due from EEOC

“The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Management and Budget have until April 3 to tell employers if companies will have to report pay information by race, ethnicity and sex in this year’s EEO-1 reports, a federal district court ruled March 19.”[iv]

[i] https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/pages/employinginterns.aspx

[ii] https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.htm

[iii] Barclay Damon Email 3/18/2019

[iv] SHRM Email

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Published by Mathew W. Burr, MJ-LEL, MBA, MHRIR, GPHR, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, CPHR-INT, Chartered CIPD

Mathew W. Burr, MJ-LEL, MBA, MHRIR, GPHR, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, CPHR-INT, Chartered MCIPD Lean Six Sigma Black Belt ABOUT: Matthew Burr has over 18-years of experience working in the human resources field, starting his career as an Industrial Relations Intern at Kennedy Valve Manufacturing to most recently founding and managing a human resource consulting company; Burr Consulting, LLC, Talentscape, LLC and Co-Owner of Labor Love, a Labor, and Employment Law poster printing company. Prior to founding the consulting firm, the majority of his career was heavy industry manufacturing and healthcare. He specializes in compliance auditing, training labor and employment law, conflict resolution, performance management, labor, and employment relations. Matthew has a generalist background in HR and operations, while providing strategic HR and operational solutions to his clients, focusing on small and medium sized organizations. He works as an Adjunct at Alfred State University, Tompkins Cortland Community College, and Montgomery Community College. He successfully designed an HR Concentration in the business management major that aligned with both SHRM and HRCI certifications, providing opportunities for students to sit for both the SHRM-CP and aPHR certifications upon completion of the degree, concentration, and internship hours as an Assistant Professor of Management at Elmira College (Retired January 2022). Matthew is also the SHRM Certification Exam Instructor, with a current pass rate of 92% on the SHRM-SCP and 83% pass rate on the SHRM-CP and a combined 88% on both exams over a 7-year period of instructing the course (Elmira College, Collin College & The College of St. Rose). Matthew works as a trainer at Tompkins Cortland Community College, Corning Community College, Broome Community College, and HR Instructor for Certification Preparation for the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). He also acts as an On-Call Mediator and Factfinder through the Public Employment Relations Board in New York State, working with public sector employers and labor unions. PUBLICATIONS: Matthew has over 70+ publications including, American Bar Association (ABA) Experience Magazine, Cornell HR Review, Business Insider, New York State Bar Association (NYSBA), PayScale, Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), and Expert 360 (in Australia). In early 2017, he published his first book, “$74,000 in 24 Months: How I killed my student loans (and you can too!),” proceeded by his second book, which was published in January 2021, “Slay the Student Loan Dragon: Tips and Tricks on How to Conquer the Student Loan Game” and his most recent book, “Unbox Your HR Career” in July 2023. VOLUNTEER WORK: Matthew is currently the New York State Society of Human Resource Management (NYSSHRM) District-Director. EDUCATION & TRAINING: Additional Training & Development:  SHRM Workplace Coaching and Mentoring Recertification Program, 2020  SHRM Foundation Employing Abilities @Work Certificate, 2020  SHRM Foundation Veterans at Work Certificate Program, 2018  Delta County Chamber of Commerce: Delta Force Leadership Program, 2013 FEATURED IN & ON: Matthew was featured on CNN Money, Fast Company, Fits Small Business, Fox News, Magnify Money, Monster.com, My Twin Tiers, Namely, Student Loan Hero, Smart Sheet and CEO Blog Nation, Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI), Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). Burr Consulting, LLC Capabilities Statement General Information: Burr Consulting, LLC Owner: Matthew W. Burr Mission Statement: “Strategically Aligning HR as a Partner for the Success of Your Business” Contact Information: Burr Consulting, LLC What's New in HR Blog Talentscape, LLC Labor Love, LLC (Labor Posters) The HR Support Center The Upstate HR Podcast (607)227-4386 Matthew@Burrconsultingllc.com Facebook: Burr Consulting, LLC LinkedIn: Burr Consulting, LLC Twitter: @Burrconsulting Online Certification Verification: Credibly Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) Number: 080776443 NAICS Codes: 541612, 923130, 54161, 541611, 541613, 611430, 541618, 561312, 561311 SIC: 8742, 8748, 9441, 8748001, 8748026 Our Services HR MANAGEMENT New Hire Orientation; Temporary HR Support; Recruiting and Application Tracking; HR Compliance (ADA, FMLA); Employee Handbook; Policy and Procedure; HRIS; HR Audits; Job Profile Design and Revision; HR Key Performance Indicators; EEO Reporting and Classification; State Unemployment Insurance Services TRAINING & TRAINING DEVELOPMENT Organizational Development; Employee Relations; Workplace Violence; Harassment & Sexual Harassment; Union Awareness; Managerial EMPLOYEE & LABOR RELATIONS Employee Relations Training; Conflict Resolution; Mentoring; Workplace Investigations; Labor Contract Costing; Mediation & Arbitration Prep; Fact-Finding; Workplace Investigations; Coaching & Counseling; Performance Reviews; Contingency Plan Development; Contingency Plan Training; State of New York Public Employment Relations Board (PERB)PERB Mediation and Fact-Finding Panels (Albany, NY covering the Elmira, NY Area) HIRING & RECRUITMENT Applicant Tracking Systems; Metric Development; Interview Training; Workforce Planning; Recruitment; Interviews; Job Offers; New Hire Process POLICY & COMPENSATION Group Plans – Healthcare, Dental, Vision, Group Life, Short- and Long-Term Disability; Retirement – 401(k), Profit Sharing, Roth; Workers Compensation; Total Compensation Design and Strategy; Deferred Compensation Plans; Salary Surveys; Reward Systems; Online Payroll; Customized Payroll Processing; Employee Self Service; Customized Reporting HR COMPLIANCE MATERIALS Burr Consulting, LLC is excited to announce a new partnership with Labor Love LLC, expanding our services to include HR printed materials compliant with industry standards.

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