'Internships are often packed full of engaging activities designed to immerse interns in a real-world work environment'
Many interns have found that their work experience has not been great amid the pandemic.
Nearly 70 per cent of those who mention remote work in their company reviews do so negatively, according to a report from Glassdoor.
That’s a huge jump from roughly 50 per cent in the summer of 2019 and 58 per cent in 2020, based on the survey of over 130,000 intern reviews from April 2019 to February 2022.
Several cited the difficulty of communication and connection in a remote environment, says Lauren Thomas, EMEA economist and data scientist at Glassdoor.
“Internships are often packed full of engaging activities designed to immerse interns in a real-world work environment and attract them back to the company post-graduation. But with the onset of COVID-19, many of these in-person events were suddenly no longer possible.”
Overall, Glassdoor found a significant (385 per cent) increase in mentions of remote work for interns from 2019 to 2020, followed by a slight decrease in 2021.
“Internships are an integral part of professionals’ early career experiences, helping them gain important skills, experience real office environments and get a foot in the door,” says Thomas.
“Any intern experience over the last two years felt the impact of COVID-19. Although remote work has been positive for many regular employees, it has disrupted many interns’ experiences.”
Younger workers have suffered disproportionately amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report from the International Labour Organization (ILO). And more than three-quarters (77 per cent) of students lost a summer job opportunity as a direct result of the pandemic, according to a separate report.
In contrast, only about 40 per cent of full- and part-time employees have a negative sentiment about the remote work setup, according to Glassdoor. This has been consistent since April 2019.
Working from home brings better mental and physical health for many workers, according to another survey. And more than 70 per cent of workers in the information technology sector will quit their job if their employer forces them to head back to the office, according to a previous survey.
Nearly a third of young people feel their current education is not preparing them with the skills they need to get jobs, according to a UNICEF report released in March 2020.
