Why Millennials Don't Want to Do Unpaid Work

Muffin Break's head honcho thinks millennials are entitled and self-important. Here's why that's untrue.

From spending all our money on smashed avocado to struggling to attain traditional employment, millennials (born between the '80s and '90s) are the punching bag of generations preceding them.

So, it wasn't a real surprise when Muffin Break's general manager Natalie Brennan told News.com.au that she thinks millennials have an inflated sense of self and are unwilling to work unpaid jobs.

"There's just nobody walking in my door asking for an internship, work experience or unpaid work, nobody," Brennan professed.

"In essence they're working for free, but I can tell you every single person who has knocked on my door for an internship or work experience has ended up with a job.

"I'm generalising, but it definitely feels like this generation of 20-somethings has to be rewarded even if it's the most mundane, boring thing, they want to be rewarded for doing their job constantly."

Brennan has since issued an apology via the Muffin Break Facebook page but the damage had already been done. Millennials were painted as 'lazy' and 'entitled' once again.

 

Obviously, no one wants to work for free. For millennials, this is a no brainer. However, over the course of our lives, we'll have to weigh up the value of gaining experience with the value of our work. In some cases, gaining experience will be important enough to forego a wage, but it'll be on a case-by-case basis for each person.

So, while some students remain firmly in the "internships are necessary" camp (and that's fine, if it works for you), there are a whole number of reasons why it's not for everyone.

Here are the things business owners should remember before they accuse young people of being lazy or entitled.

Experience doesn't keep you fed.

Starting with the obvious: Taking an internship or unpaid work means earning no money for a while. While it's great to get a taste of the work environment, it's a privilege many can't afford. Unless you have parents to support you or you have an extremely understanding workplace that is willing to let you take certain days off, many simply can't take on internships, because they need, y'know, food and shelter. At the end of the day, getting experience isn't going to pay your data bills.

In some industries, your chances of getting hired are basically zero unless you have a few internships under your belt. Ideally, you'd be able to take on a vocational placement, which are "lawfully unpaid" but at least help contribute to your education or training course.

In more questionable cases, young people can sometimes find ways to justify the internship and support themselves. When they can't, it just widens the gap and leaves behind those from disadvantaged backgrounds. For that reason alone, it shouldn't be just young people who are concerned, but business owners too.

Some internships are more equal than others.

Most people know at least someone with a terrible internship story. From coffee runs to hours of menial administration tasks, not all internships are equally invaluable.

That's in part due to the nature of internships. By law, the tasks you undertake in internships aren't supposed to be from someone else's (paid) role. That often leaves very few opportunities. Disorganised (and unfair) internships can mean you're filing away 1,000 pages or cleaning the storage room; in others, you might be doing the work of a paid graduate for free.

Either way, one internship might leave you feeling confident with your newfound skills and experience while another might make you question whether this is the field for you.

Unpaid work can leave you feeling less than you're worth.

Most people take on tertiary or study after high school because they want to have a higher chance of getting a well-paid job. Because it's a very common pathway in 2019, experience might make be the very thing that sets you apart from your studied-up peers.

However, the data tells a different story.

Research completed by America's National Association of Colleges and Employers has shown that hiring rates for those who had completed unpaid internships were around the same as those who hadn't.

To make matters more dire, the research also revealed that those who had undertaken unpaid internships had lower starting salaries than those that hadn't. It's suggested that because the graduates had done internships without getting paid, they were more likely to accept less pay because the internship had lowered their self-worth and, consequently, the value of their work.

At the end of the day, internships that operate within the legal bounds and offer interns real experience and lessons (and, ideally, course credit) are certainly important in an oversaturated graduate market. Others, however, result in young people being exploited while those at the top continue to maintain the lie that it'll all pay off.

That's true entitlement.

Header Image: Converse