Addressing the Cat in the Room: SGUnited Traineeship Can Be Abused Easily ‘Coz Some Employers Are Already Doing That

There’s a cat in the room that needs to be addressed.

In fact, it’s such an unspoken issue that people have been asking us to shed light on this issue, and we’re not trying to pretend to be influencers who say, “So many of you have been asking me about…”

So, are we talking about Dee Kosh (again)?

No, it’s something much more serious that you probably won’t know about unless if you’ve just graduated recently:

The abuse of the super internship that’s co-paid by the Government, i.e. SGUnited Traineeship.

SGUnited Traineeship Can Be Abused Easily ‘Coz Employers Are Already Doing That

If you’re new to the world, then congrats on landing in this planet during a pandemic, but allow me to explain what an internship in Singapore entails.

In the past, an internship meant you go to a big company and helped your supervisor to photocopy things that didn’t require photocopying. Sometimes, you remove staple bullets and re-staple a stack of papers that’d be thrown away shortly. Back then, employers are doing interns a favour by allowing them to experience real-life work, but some supervisors couldn’t afford to give them heavy responsibilities.

If you were lucky, you might be involved in some important projects and learn some new things while getting some contacts, but most internships involve helping your supervisor to carry their bags.

Those were the days when internships weren’t abused, and fresh grads look for full-time jobs even before they graduate because student loans aren’t going to wait.

Fast forward to today, and internships look a tad different.

Employers, usually smaller ones, would actively look for interns, and unlike the 90s, they’d throw them heavy responsibilities and give them roles similar to a full-timer. That is all good and well because interns would acquire both soft and hard skills, but here’s when the abuse started:

Some companies have more interns than full-timers, and are always on the lookout for interns to do the work of a full-timer.

Why, you ask.

For a start, interns are, for the lack of a better word, “cheap (quality) labour”; there’s no minimum allowance imposed by the authorities, so you can get one for free if you’re “lucky” enough. However, depending on where you intern, it’s usually not more than $1,000 a month.

No CPF is required, and the interns wouldn’t have any benefits as well. Not even sick leave entitlement.

You can watch this video about what bosses can do to an employee and intern here:

So it’s not just cheap labour, but cheap and no-commitment labour.

Pray tell me: if you’re a boss and have a choice between a full-timer who costs $4,000 a month (after including all the costs like employer’s CPF contribution) and an intern who costs $800 a month (with absolutely no commitment; you can let go of him or her with a snap of your finger), which choice would you opt for?

What’s even worse is that while this looks unacceptable, some people have willingly accepted it. One of us in Goody Feed actually said that it’s now the “common route” to intern for a year or so before securing a full-time job because companies are only engaging people with “two-year working experience”.

And mind you, that conversation took place almost a year ago before COVID-19 hit.

As you thought that market forces would eventually filter out those “interns-based” companies, COVID-19 struck, and while the intentions are good, it deepens this tiny crack that has been haunting fresh graduates.

“Intern-Based” Companies Now Happier

If you didn’t know what SG Traineeship is, you can just think of it as a super internship but its allowance for the interns would be co-paid by the Government.

In the words of its website, it “aims to provide up to 21,000 traineeship opportunities to those who have recently graduated or will soon be graduating in 2019 and 2020. This will help them develop industry-relevant skills, notwithstanding the current economic climate, and boost their employability in preparation for the eventual recovery. By participating in the SGUnited Traineeships Programme, host organisations can gain access to a pool of fresh talent and be able to recruit experienced trainees when hiring picks up.”

The idea is good because other than co-paying the allowances (up to 80%), organisations must also pay a minimum amount of allowance: $1,800 for university graduates, $1,300 for diploma holders and $1,100 for ITE graduates.

But other than that, it works almost the same as an internship: there’s no CPF contribution required and no benefits as well. In other words, if you’re a trainee, your boss can technically not pay you if you’re on MC.

This is one of the issues that was brought up by people who contacted us, probably because CPF money isn’t tangible (now) but benefits and entitlements are.

Now, just think about it: if you’ve been engaging interns to do your heavy-duty work to sustain your business, this would be a godsend because you can now engage even cheaper interns since a bulk of their allowance is paid for by the Government.

If you think this isn’t happening, think again: someone in Reddit said that a company replaced a full-time position to a traineeship position after knowing about SGUnited Traineeship.

So, what’s the solution for this?

Suffice to say, there isn’t any yet, if not the scholars coming out with the system would’ve come out with one.

Nevertheless, there’s a system to report any abuse by businesses. If you’ve applied to be a traineeship programme to learn coding and realised you’ve just become a slave to the boss instead, you can call 6827 6828, email [email protected] or use this online form to report the company.

You might also want to check out this video whereby we spoke about this abuse (and also subscribe to our YouTube channel for more informative videos, please?):