SINGAPORE: Despite having worked at the company for only 3.5 weeks, an intern has shared on social media that she already feels “burnt out,” “overworked,” and “exploited” because her boss and older colleagues constantly placed unreasonable expectations and last-minute tasks on her, offering little or no guidance.
The intern said in her Reddit post on Monday (April 28) that her boss regularly assigns her “tasks that are always super general” without providing clear directions, and that every time she asks for clarification, her boss gets visibly annoyed and explains it in a very condescending “Isn’t it obvious” tone.
At other times, her boss would simply “make an annoyed face and then ignore her completely”. The intern also revealed that her boss often dumps multiple last-minute tasks on her all at once, leaving her scrambling to complete everything on time.
She added that the feedback she receives on each task is wildly inconsistent and incredibly frustrating. “His standards change every day. What I did in document A (approved), I’ll do the same in document B, then he’ll say this has never been accepted?” she wrote.
To make matters worse, the intern mentioned that some senior colleagues have started offloading their responsibilities onto her so they can leave work early.
“I don’t like doing it, but I basically have no choice, right? After hours or on the way home, I’ll get emails telling me there’s something new due tomorrow morning. Which obviously means I have to work at night too,” she wrote.
“On weekends, if I don’t check my email because I’m out, they will even call me to tell me to check immediately and finish the work ASAP. Is that normal? I’m basically working seven days a week at this point, and my pay is already below average intern pay,” she added.
Looking for guidance, she asked fellow Redditors, “How do I deal with this? I still have to tahan 3 more months, I’m not sure I can handle the work and bite my tongue for so much longer…Is it just the initial transition into the job? I feel a bit like I’m getting exploited, but I know interns are there to do the grunt work. Has everyone gone through this before?”
“This is just pure exploitation of interns.”
Several Reddit users replied to the intern’s post, saying that what she’s going through doesn’t sound normal at all and seems more like workplace abuse. One person pointed out that interns are supposed to be guided and not overloaded with extra work from senior staff.
They added, “Please reach out to your school career coach and those handling the internship processes and reports. This company must be made to light so that you and future interns would not face such unfair treatment again. Don’t worry about the aftermath, etc., your school will manage that.”
Another echoed this sentiment, stating, “This is just pure exploitation of interns. For working after official hours, to be honest, you should just mute and detach yourself from work with your personal life.
“Stand up for yourself instead of being taken advantage of, don’t worry about ‘burning bridges’. You’re an intern, if anything, they should be ashamed of themselves for putting you in this situation.”
Additionally, a third Redditor encouraged the intern to keep asking questions even if her boss seems annoyed. They said, “You are there to get your job done, not keep him happy. Ask him until you fully understand what to do. So that once the conversation ends, you can kick him out of your mind.”
A fourth added, “Aside from raising this issue to your school supervisor, check your employment contract too. Typically, those earning below a certain amount are entitled to overtime pay.”
According to the Ministry of Manpower (MoM), interns earning a monthly basic salary of $2,600 or less and covered by the Employment Act should not be required to work more than 44 hours per week, or exceed 88 hours over two consecutive weeks. If overtime is necessary, employers must compensate interns for the extra hours worked.
Read also: NITEC grad who was offered $2K/month for an internship asks, ‘Am I getting underpaid?’
Featured image by Depositphotos (for illustration purposes only)