Interns For Your Business

Offering students an internship to gain hands-on work experience is a beneficial opportunity for everyone, if executed properly.  To ensure a positive outcome for both parties, the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) recommends keeping these six requirements in mind when creating internships if the position is unpaid:

• The training should resemble an educational program where the internship provides students with real life educational experiences that can only be gained outside a classroom.  Students should be able to apply what they have learned in the classroom to their experiences in the workforce.
• The employer should structure the internship toward an educational goal, including ongoing instruction and supervision.
• The training is for the benefit of the trainee and is not intended as a way for businesses to take advantage of free work.  The experience will increase the intern's chances of being hired in the job market and/or allow them to earn academic credit.  A key point, according to  SHRM is, "unpaid interns who fall into the category of 'trainees' rather than 'employees' frequently perform tasks that are useful only for training purposes and that provide little to no benefit to the employer."
• Trainees or students should not displace regular employees nor be entrusted with the same work as a regular employee or a recently departed employee; nor may the employer lay off an employee to be replaced by a student or trainee.
• Employers should have a policy with strict supervision of interns and assign a mentor.  Supervisors should actively participate with interns.
• The employer should derive no immediate advantage from the activities of trainees or students.  SHRM suggests that "a key caution is if the employer is the primary beneficiary of an internship, for example, and the employer reduces costs or accomplishes necessary tasks through the intern, the DOL will consider the intern an employee under the FLSA.  If the intern is the primary beneficiary of the experience, the DOL is much more likely to consider the intern a trainee."

"Please note trainees or students are not entitled to a job at the end if the training.  To ensure that the intern has no expectation of employment, the DOL recommends that an employer draft a written agreement with the intern stating that the intern should have no expectation of employment and should not presume any guarantee of employment after the internship.  Though an employer should make it clear that an intern is not entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship, employers should not be discouraged from offering jobs to interns.  

The employer and trainees/students understand that trainees/students are not entitles to wages for the time spent in training.  before beginning the relationship, employers should draft a written agreement stating that payment for the intern's services is neither intended nor expected during the internship."

This article should not be construed as legal advice.

Finding the Right Trainer

Let’s say you have been asked to find a trainer to conduct customer service training or safety training for your company’s employees.  Where do you go to find a trainer?  Do you know what it will cost?  Do you know what questions to ask?  If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you could be throwing away good money on someone that will take your money without providing a valuable service to your organization.

When looking for a trainer, the important thing is to start with knowing what services you need and why.  You need to identify what metrics or other data you have that specifically identifies a need for training.  Do you have customers complaining about poor response time when calling customer service representatives?  This may be the result of inadequate bandwidth or an insufficient number of phone lines that is unrelated to the behavior of customer service representatives.  Or perhaps your representatives need to be better trained in order to perform multiple tasks at a time, thus increasing productivity.

Once you have verified the problem through a needs assessment, the next step is to have an idea of the target audience and format of the training.  For example, will all employees in the organization be trained or only a select few?  This can make a big difference in how the course is designed and the cost of the training.  In other words, you have to have some idea on what you are looking for before you consult with a trainer.

When looking for a trainer, the easiest approach is to conduct an Internet search for a trainer in your area.  However, you will likely have to sort through a number of individuals and companies that don’t train on the subject matter you need.  A professional organization that certifies or provides continuing education to trainers is another approach, as the organization may group trainers by subject matter and/or geography.  Referrals are another great source.

When speaking with a trainer, it is important to get to know their training approach and how many and what types of courses they have designed and facilitated.  The trainer may want some idea of the scope of the project before quoting you a rate, but a reputable trainer will be able to quote a minimum and maximum fee.  Of course, it is also important for you to know what your budget is for the project.

Selecting a trainer is never easy but by asking the right questions and taking your time to carefully design each course, you will reap the benefits of a better educated workforce.

This article should not be construed as legal advice.

Licensing and Continuing Education Compliance

Do you know how many of your employees are required to maintain professional licenses or complete a specific number of continuing education courses in order to renew their licenses? 

When you hire individuals for a specific position because of their advanced skills or knowledge, there is a good chance that they are required to participate in continuing education courses and maintain an active license with a state regulatory or administrative agency.  A few professions that fit in this category include but are not limited to, attorneys, certified public accountants, physicians, nurses, real estate brokers and real estate managing brokers. 

Depending on the profession and the state where the individual is licensed, the licensing law and continuing education requirements may vary.  Some states may have annual renewal periods while other states have two-year renewal periods.  Some states require licensees to pass a test as part of the license renewal process while other states require licensees to complete a specific number of course credit hours or practice in their field for a specific time period.

No matter what the requirements are, employers should monitor employee compliance with licensing and continuing educations requirements on an annual basis.  This could take the form of the employer paying for and enrolling the employee in specific courses or ensuring the employee is practicing in their field for the required time period.  It could also involve the employer requiring the employee to provide documentation proving that they have complied with the applicable license renewal provision (e.g., certificates of completions or copies of renewed licenses).  Finally, it could also involve requiring the employee to sign an acknowledgement that she or he has fully complied with the applicable law or regulation regarding license renewal and/or continuing education. 

While this process may seem administratively burdensome, the alternative is to have individuals working at your company who are not properly licensed and who may be subject to disciplinary action by the applicable state or local administrative agency.  Is this the kind of publicity you want for your company? 

This article should not be construed as legal advice.