22nd Dec 2007
A Memo to Interns
sent from a Blackberry no less.
On the one hand, the crimes as described are basic things that you’d hope interns would avoid (general truancy). On the other hand, I always wondered who could afford extended unpaid internships in publishing (people who don’t need to work for money). Thus ends any snide commentary on unpaid publishing internships in Manhattan.
Oh, those poor poor little rich girls. Does their behavior really surprise you?
I honestly have no problem with this memo. Even though I’m reading The Devil Wears Prada as my airplane reading.
Or maybe because of it.
But let’s say I employed these interns, and I had been listing their sins in my head, becoming more and more annoyed as time went on. Sending a blackberry message doesn’t seem to me to be a good way to change their behavior (if that was the intent). Meeting with them in person (or possibly one by one) seems like it would be a lot more effective. It seemed to be a bit more about shaming than managing (though shaming is a management technique).
Chances are if she talks to them individually, they are all going to talk about what she said to them as a group anyway, so she is saving herself some time. I have little sympathy for the boss, as she hired them; and I have zero sympathy for the interns - if you are taking an unpaid internship at Elle for 3 days a week, you clearly have some other form of income; and it sounds like they are a bunch of gossiping slobs with no work ethic.
These interns sound annoying. But perhaps they are in the right place.
I do agree that they seem to deserve one another.
I’m just of the mind set that the best management is that which is individualized and not done in a shaming way despite whether or not the interns deserve it. Surely she could have met with each intern for five minutes to say, Here is something you are doing that is great, and Here is something you need to work on. And yes, I’m sure the interns would have bitched about it together, but I’ve been on the receiving end of shaming group messages, and fear that no one would have taken this advice to heart (not for the long-term, anyway). It just makes employees hate you and doesn’t improve their behavior.
I agree; her admonishment was likely ineffective and - seeing as how it somehow ended up all over the Internet - might have even created a problem.
Certainly in my experience, being chastised with a group of other people was unhelpful (for me, the manager, and my coworkers). My coworkers and I were more likely to feel indignant more than contrite.