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Straits Times
01-07-2025
- Straits Times
What interns can do about bosses behaving badly
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox The TL;DR: Student interns can seek help from their school and the authorities when they face unreasonable bosses who do not give them lunch breaks or dock their pay for mistakes. This is the first of a three-part series on surviving unpleasant internships. Many Singaporean young people pursue internships to gain relevant industry exposure, but not all have positive experiences. Polytechnic student Sarah (not her real name) is doing her final-year internship at a media company that had her cleaning the toilet and picking up trash. Things took a turn for the worse when she and her fellow interns were made to work about nine hours daily for a week-long event without any lunch or dinner breaks. The 21-year-old also said when one of the interns made mistakes that she felt were 'minor', such as forgetting to amend specific data in document submissions, that intern had up to $100 docked from the salary for each mistake made. 'I've had my fair share of internship experiences and by far, this has got to be the worst,' Sarah said. Many Singaporean young people pursue internships to gain relevant industry exposure and fulfil academic requirements, but not all have positive experiences. 'Any employer who crosses the company's employee policies and violates (the student's) internship contract can be deemed to have crossed the line,' said career counsellor Gerald Tan from Avodah People Solutions, which offers career guidance and job transitioning support to individuals and organisation employees. While some interns do encounter harsher superiors, he said bosses should not be allowed to hurl vulgarities at their interns. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. 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Other experts The Straits Times spoke to said the wage deductions Sarah's fellow intern experienced are 'potentially illegal', but this depends on each situation. In response to queries from ST, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Manpower said students under school-arranged internships are typically not covered for employee protections under the Employment Act, and they should seek help from their schools if they face unfair treatment. In the case of those pursuing internships outside of their curriculum, an employer can legally make deductions from the intern's salary only if it can be shown that the loss of money to the employer is 'directly attributable' to the intern's 'neglect or default'. Deductions are limited to no more than 25 per cent of the intern's salary or the cost of damages, whichever is lower. When asked if she tried to speak to her bosses, Sarah said: 'Any attempts to have a mature conversation (with them) regarding any unfair treatments often led to vulgarities and raised voices.' Ms Clarice Chan, director of Aureus Consulting, a firm providing education, career and life coaching services, believes that interns should take action to protect themselves in such 'toxic' situations. 'Interns (in such circumstances) should keep a log of the dates and times of (pay) deductions, the reasons given and the amounts, as well as note the dates and times of verbal abuse and what was said,' she said. With this documentation, interns can seek resolution through external channels. 'Students (under school-coordinated internships) can talk to school supervisors who can advise on school policies, potentially intervene, or guide them on official complaints. Those pursuing their own internships can file a complaint with the Ministry of Manpower,' Ms Chan said. Mr Jeremiah Wong, lead career developer in career counselling and coaching at Avodah People Solutions, said schools have several 'fail-safe mechanisms' to help students deconflict such situations. 'In such situations, students can ask their school supervisors to come down to the job site itself to inspect the situation, or at least give a call to the company to hear the employer's perspective. In the worst case, (schools) can blacklist the company,' said Mr Wong. In May, Sarah approached her school internship advisers for help, and the school swiftly took action by blacklisting the company for future internship programmes. Currently, she intends to 'mentally push through' and continue her internship at the company until August, to fulfil her polytechnic graduation requirements. Mr Wong, who is also an associate lecturer at Republic Polytechnic and the Singapore University of Social Sciences, said that for most polytechnics, students who drop out of their final-year internships typically need to 'remodule' their internship, as it is a mandatory module for graduation. But this should not stop student interns from seeking help should they face troubles during their internship, he said. 'Internships are (supposed to be) a safe learning environment for students to learn before they work in their first job in the future. If they feel threatened in the workplace, they should seek help from their school supervisors immediately,' he said.
Straits Times
23-06-2025
- General
- Straits Times
Inside /r/SGExams: Meet the young volunteers behind 1 of S'pore's largest online forums for students
Inside /r/SGExams: Meet the young volunteers behind 1 of S'pore's largest online forums for students The TL;DR: What does it take to run one of Singapore's most popular online teenage spaces? Two volunteer moderators from /r/SGExams – the over 285,000-member strong Reddit forum that discusses student life in Singapore – tell TL;DR about their experiences managing the forum and what they are looking for in the next generation of moderators. SINGAPORE – It has more than 285,000 members and over a thousand posts and comments a day discussing everything about student life in Singapore – from O-level study tips and university admissions to suggestions on how best to ask your classroom crush out. Behind /r/SGExams, Singapore's largest Reddit forum focused on student life in Singapore, is a team of six young volunteers aged 20 to 26 who spend their free time managing and moderating the forum. Among them is Ms Emmeline Kao, who, like many other Singaporean students, first began using the forum in 2021 while she was in secondary school to discuss school work with peers. 'I first started using /r/SGExams during my O levels to discuss the answers to the papers on the (forum) megathreads,' said Ms Kao, 19. She continued to frequent the forum thereafter, as she found its content both helpful and entertaining. 'Not only were the study tips and revision advice helpful, I also enjoyed reading the 'slice-of-life content' that other students would post about their lives,' she said. She particularly enjoyed the lively posts about school choice, where students would passionately vouch for certain schools and argue over which one was best to enrol in. 'It's like a back-and-forth between students. It's always entertaining to read.' Becoming a moderator In 2022, Ms Kao applied to join the /r/SGExams moderation team as a volunteer, as she 'wanted to give back to the community that I had been frequenting'. 'I had always been curious about how the subreddit worked behind-the-scenes, and I also wanted to have a more meaningful say in how it was curated,' she said. After filling up a Google application form, she had to undergo an informal interview with Mr Raphael Peck, another current moderator who was the moderation team lead in 2022. Ms Kao recalled being asked questions about what she would do if she encountered controversial posts and what ideas she had for improving the subreddit. Moderating a subreddit is more than just filtering content –it also involves deciding on the direction of the forum. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY Mr Peck, 23, said: 'There are no real correct answers in the interview. It's mainly to assess candidates' knowledge about the subreddit, and see if their line of thinking is similar (to the rest of the moderation team). 'It's a vibe check to make sure we can get along, basically.' Mr Peck said that traits for moderators that they were looking for in interviews included maturity, social awareness and a willingness to help the community. Behind the scenes Moderators typically spend up to an hour on weekdays and up to two hours on weekends going through comments and posts on the forum to remove content that violates the rules of the subreddit. These include spam posts or comments that contain slurs. Most of the moderation team's work is done on the fly on their phones and in pockets of spare time throughout the day, such as while waiting for the bus or the MRT. Ms Kao added: 'It's a big but flexible commitment that we do in our free time. It's really not about clocking a target number of hours, but more about being more active when needed, especially during periods with many megathreads or in the weekends when content is at its peak. 'We will also communicate this to the rest of the team that more manpower is needed during those times so that we are able to distribute responsibilities evenly without clashing with our school or external commitments.' Website-based tools help them in their work: Auto-moderation features on Reddit first remove posts and comments that violate Reddit's site-wide policies. The forum also self regulates – posts marked out by /r/SGExam's users are temporarily removed and flagged to moderators of the subreddit. These posts and comments appear in a 'mod queue', which the moderators pick up to determine if the flagged content should be removed or allowed. Most of the moderation team's work is done on the fly on their phones and in pockets of spare time throughout the day. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY Ms Kao said: 'All the moderators will be notified when a post or comment is flagged, so whoever has a free moment can instantly check it.' Mr Peck said that repeat offenders or users whose posts and comments are frequently reported may also be 'soft banned' without the user's knowledge – meaning that their posted content will not appear on the forum unless a moderator approves it. 'We had a user claiming to be a PhD holder with some warped views on university admissions, who often gave advice based on misinformation,' he recalled. 'We had another who would aggressively question the academic and career decisions of others whenever they disagreed with it.' Naturally, there are some who challenge their decisions. 'When that happens, I just reiterate the explanation for why the content was removed or the user was banned,' said Ms Kao. When asked about particularly challenging times as a moderator, Mr Peck pointed to the 2021 incident where a student at River Valley High School killed a schoolmate with an axe. He said: 'It was a particularly busy time for our team. We didn't want to shut down discussions, but we also didn't want baseless rumours and accusations (on the forum).' 'We spent quite a lot of time ensuring the discussion was healthy, and that there weren't comments from users claiming to be at (the scene of the crime) or twisting the timeline of events.' Shaping the forum Moderating a subreddit is more than just filtering content –it also involves deciding on the direction of the forum. Ms Kao cited the 2022 decision of the current moderation team to move more popular 'slice-of-life' content to weekends as the type of decision future moderators will have to make. She said: 'Slice-of-life content, especially romance and love confession stories, tend to be so popular that they drown out posts actually looking for advice. 'We decided to reserve this kind of (slice-of-life) content for the weekend so students who are seeking academic advice can find the help they need.' Ms Kao and Mr Peck said that as they get older, and also because of their responsibilities as moderators, they frequent the forum less themselves for content they can use. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY While this change has been received warmly by most community members, Ms Kao said that there has been a small but vocal minority of users who have been campaigning for non-academic posts to be allowed on public holidays as well. Passing the baton Ms Kao and Mr Peck said that as they get older, and also because of their responsibilities as moderators, they frequent the forum less themselves for content they can use. Mr Peck, a first-year air transport management student at the Singapore Institute of Technology, said: 'The target demographic of the subreddit are those in secondary school, polytechnic and junior college, so posts about A-level advice or university admissions are just less relevant to me now.' Mr Peck shared that moderators on the subreddit generally volunteer for two years. 'As someone who's been here for almost double that time, I want to move on with my life,' he said. Ms Kao, who is waiting to enter university, also said that she foresees herself using the forum less when she enters university. She said: 'It's important to bring in younger moderators who will be more in touch with the average user of the forum. We'll be looking for new moderators around the polytechnic- and junior college-age range.' The /r/SGExam moderation team said that they are looking for three to five moderators aged 16 to 25, and have begun formal recruitment for new moderators via a post on the subreddit. Selected potential moderators will join the team on a trial basis to assess their suitability for the role. New moderators will also receive mentorship from their more experienced counterparts. When asked what were the most important traits they will be looking for in the new moderators, Mr Peck said: 'The moderators we want should be representative of the student community we are trying to cultivate here in our local online spaces – people who want to uplift the community and ensure it remains safe for our younger users. 'This requires time and effort, especially when you have to look through a lot of content.' Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
