Internships in Indonesia are popular for those looking to embark on a pilgrimage of the so-called “professional” or “executive” aspect of becoming a working, responsible adult.

The terms of internship vary and depending on which expert weighs in, the definition might change. However, the concurring theme is a limited amount of time or period offered by the employer, mostly for students and fresh graduates with little to no professional working experience -- to give them a “taste test” of how a professional working environment could be.

“I signed up for these internships because I saw that it is important to build a lot of experience. I think that going through the internship process will make the process easier for me later when I become a full-time employee,” said Grace, not her real name, a 22-year-old intern from Surabaya, who has been taking internships while waiting for her bachelor's diploma to be officially awarded so that she can apply for full time. 

These days, getting a job as a fresh graduate is a tall hurdle. Many companies freeze their recruitment.  Twitter account @Ecommurz, which acts as a hub for discourse surrounding corporate gossip, also recently revealed massive layoffs from big-name companies. Young Indonesians are left to choose from applying to fresh graduate vacancies, which sometimes ask for one to two years of working experience, or internship programs.

“Looking at the reality of today's workforce, which requires people with previous experience, it’s a big factor,” Grace said. “This factor also influences us to think that the internship program nowadays is mandatory because, like it or not, we need it so we can compete in the working world.”

According to Nicholas Joy, VP of online investment platform OneAset with eight years of experience in human resources, the reason internship programs are being used so often, by long-standing corporate companies and startups alike, is the benefits they can provide for both parties.

On top of introducing the “real world” to students or fresh graduates and familiarizing these interns with corporate cultures and values, there is also the perk that companies can fish top talents at their early stage.

“We want to attract pro talent,” Nicholas said. “Internship is the main strategy where the company can recognize top talents when they are participating in the internship program.”

The goal: Internship was originally designed as a learning opportunity for student-workers. (Unsplash/Smartworks Coworking) (Unsplash/Smartworks Coworking)

The taste of adulthood

The term “internship” is often misunderstood, misinterpreted and confused with either voluntary or full-time employment. 

“It is different for every internship that I had,” said Dina, not her real name. The 21-year-old currently works remotely in North Sulawesi as an intern at one of the foreign economic associations in Jakarta. For her work at a governmental institution, she did not receive any pay.

“[The] important thing for me at that moment is I can check off the internship subject credit so I can continue my thesis and graduate.”

Whether internships are paid depends heavily on the employer’s financial ability, and is a luxury that is inaccessible to some in the market. To bypass this, unpaid internship providers resort to a substitute salary or compensation; for example, transport or meal allowances. 

In her first internship experience at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (Kadin) BSD for a period of one month as a Business Research Intern, Dina received meal and transportation allowance. For her second internship as a Business Development Intern at a foreign business association located in Jakarta, she was unpaid. The supervisor had told her it was a paid program if it was held offline. “But it was online when I took it, during the pandemic,” she says.

Luckily, Grace now has a better internship with proper benefits at a Surabaya company dealing in elevators; however, it still comes with a catch.

“The job description itself is mostly as advertised, it's just that there are additional tasks outside of the job description,” said Grace about her current intern position, which is her third.

Searching for top talents: Nicholas believes that the human resource professionals must take the internship within the companies seriously. (Courtesy of Nicholas Joy) (Courtesy of Nicholas Joy/Courtesy of Nicholas Joy)

Lawless? 

In exchange for the interns’ hard labor, some employers provide letters of recommendation or other forms of acknowledgment.

There are also cases where job seekers applied for an unpaid internship and ended up with a job description equal to full-time employment.  Some unique cases demonstrated interns’ exploitation, indicating that a number of employers resort to cheap-labor options, undermining the mutual-benefit value of the market.

“Before we talk about compensation, of course, in the contract there are rights and obligations between the employer and the intern. That's where the intern has to go deeper into the details of the employer’s and the intern’s rights and obligations,” said Nicholas. 

“I’ve heard news that came out about internship exploitation and the outrageous fine. As an HR professional, that is against my principles.”

In November 2021, an internship case went viral on social media, in which the interns at a startup company were paid Rp100,000 (US$6.96) monthly but were fined Rp500,000 should they resign. This highlights a flaw in many internship contracts. Clearly, it requires a certain degree of understanding of law and regulations, as exploitation occurs when one party has the upper hand and the other does not know of any better option.

Prama Dwi Putra, a 31-year-old legal advocate residing in Jakarta, explained that the definition of internship in Indonesia refers to the existing laws and regulations, namely Law Number 13 of 2003 concerning employment, Decree of the Manpower Minister Number 23 of 2016 and lastly Manpower Minister Regulation Number 6 of 2020.

Prama then explained that the three regulations regulate at least four elements that form the definition of the internship.

A stepping stone: Young people are competing to get an internship in an attempt to secure better chance at finding a full time job. (Unsplash/Jaime Lopes) (Unsplash/Jaime Lopes)

“First, there is a system of job training. Second, a direct work involvement within the employer’s ‘production processes’. Third, interns must be under the supervision of the employer; and fourth, the internship period’s intention is to train and to help the intern master certain skills,” Prima added.

The Manpower Ministry regulates that internship organizers are required to register their apprenticeship program with the competent authority so that supervision can be carried out.

“But I believe in practice many are not registered for various reasons, so supervision cannot be conducted properly. They even tend to just wait for reports from the aggrieved parties,” said Prama. “These things open up opportunities for companies to exploit internship participants, making it more difficult to expose them.”

Nicholas also added that internship journeys are the responsibility of the human resources department. 

“This is what HR professionals often forget. If the experience provided by the employer is not pleasant, in the end, the intern will spread bad news [about the company], and eventually, your brand will be tarnished.”

ohmg