The rise of the unpaid: Campuspedia saga
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When a tweet about a start-up paying interns Rp100,000 a month with a Rp500,000 penalty if they resign went viral, Surabaya-based education media start-up Campuspedia found itself in hot water.
Screenshots of how Akbar Maulana, the founder and CEO of the company, treats his workers were first published by pseudonym account Taktekbum. Ecommurz later joined in the round and the case garnered more attention from news outlets and the Ministry of Manpower.
The complaints
Meanwhile, the interns joined hands to create Twitter account Serikat Magang (Intern Union) in order to expose the company’s mismanagement and demand better treatment, as well as penalties reimbursement.
16 witnesses comprising former interns, current interns and full time employees gave their testimonies to TFR regarding the work conditions at Campuspedia. Below is the compilation of the testimonies:
To ensure the safety of the witnesses, their identities and department will be anonymous. All of the testimonies below are from the witnesses. They are not TFR’s opinions.
A - 2021 (internship)
A was told salary would be honoured once she filled in a form. Payment came in late for a month.
Long working hours, has to work on weekends
B - 2021 (volunteer)
The intern leading the team was questioned by the CEO for stagnant growth of social media accounts. The team had to draft out content for social media through Zoom. Employees were held back until 10.30 pm.
C - 2019 (internship)
Was tasked to collect donations from sponsors without any help or supervision as the team was filled with interns.
D - 2020 (internship)
Salary payment was delayed for two weeks.
All interns continued to work another two to four weeks after the contract ended.
The CEO asked D to submit work while the human capital team said the work had been completed.
E - 2021 (internship)
Salary reduced when target was not met and work performance was deemed unsatisfactory, but the target was unclear; there was no KPI, interns were confused with the benchmark of salary deduction.
Work was extended for two weeks without consulting E. E was accused of neglecting work when there was no network.
E was asked to join a meeting when attending a funeral.
F - 2020 to 2021 (internship-part time)
Tasked with several projects outside the scope of work without any guidance. Working hours surpassed 20 hours a week.
Received calls above 10 PM. Other interns who were students were forced to join meetings during class.
Work was extended for two weeks without pay despite fulfilling 250 hours, citing unachieved target.
Monthly salary was cut to Rp50,000 from Rp200,000 for handing in resignation in early June. However, F continued to work until the end of the month.
CEO is manipulative, he never appreciates any of his employees.
Salary payment system is messy. F had to argue with the CEO to assure him she hadn’t received her salary.
F and other interns were asked to manipulate data to receive payment from clients. Interns were asked to create fake email accounts to boost the number of views.
G - 2021 (internship)
Tasked with projects outside scope of work without any guidance.
Problems come from the CEO. Interns were scolded in front of the team, every little detail was scrutinised.
H - 2021 (internship)
Expected to fulfil unrealistic targets that no one has ever achieved.
Messy work flow and requirements. Tasked with creating 50 presentations in a short amount of time.
Was asked to purchase company property using her identity card
I - 2019 to 2020 (internship-part time)
CEO will find loopholes to reduce the salary since he’s the one who transfers the salaries.
Unpleasant experience came from the CEO. CEO micromanages every intern, doesn’t accept any criticism and is manipulative.
After the case went viral, the interns had to go through rigorous debate with the CEO to remove the Rp500,000 penalty. The penalty was removed by interns instead of the CEO.
Asked the interns to manipulate the sales process in order to receive funding or payment from other institutions.
Asked the interns and I to copy other viral content without permission.
Asked an intern at the Human Capital department with legal background to write a deceiving work agreement. The intern refused and quit.
Salary payment is always late.
J - 2021 (internship)
Pressured to create content and produce work out of scope
There is no proper training, but every intern is expected to deliver.
K - 2021 (internship)
Unrealistic target and heavy workload.
Didn’t get any solution for problems, was gaslighted by the CEO instead.
Other interns were asked to work on weekends.
L - 2020 (internship)
Didn’t receive proper guidance and mentorship.
M - 2020 (internship)
Overworked
Asked to be available all the time.
N - 2021 (internship)
Heavy workload and unrealistic deadlines.
O - 2021 (internship)
Had to pay Rp500,000 for resigning after a month.
Another intern who was already paid Rp100,000 in the second month had to refund it at the end of the internship for not meeting the target.
The company can deduct its intern’s salary for not meeting the target (to be explained below). However, there is no proper formula or guideline on how to calculate the reduction.
No room to explore. Only received criticism without solution. Had to learn everything on their own.
P - 2020 (full time)
There is no fixed schedule on salary payment. Employees had to ask for their salary since the CEO tends to forget. The CEO states “there are too many interns that need to be paid” as the reason why he forgot.
P was promised minimum wage, but it was halved during the probation period. However, the last salary which amounted to three weeks of work was deducted to Rp150,000 without proper explanation.
Working hours are “flexible”, meaning the team often worked until 10 PM and on weekends while the working hours in the contract are 8 hours for full time and 4 hours for interns. Sometimes, a brief was given at 2 AM.
Interns were asked to interview internship candidates. They were also tasked to sign documents.
Unrealistic deadline for a project. Design, copywriting, article and social media content had to be done in a day, which the CEO regarded as time efficiency.
Based on the testimonies of the interns, underpaying interns is just one of the start-up’s many problems. Copies of the work contract provided to TFR by some of the witnesses confirm that the company can unilaterally cut the employees’ salaries at any given time.
Article 9 point number 2 of the contract states, “The Second Party will be honoured Rp100,000/month if [they] fulfil the target and determined work hours, however if the Second Party cannot fulfil that, therefore the First Party can reduce the amount of fees at any given time, including if the Second Party can achieve more than the target, the First Party will hand out additional bonus.
In response to the aforementioned policy, Akbar told Detik that the interns never questioned such regulation. He also said that the penalties were optional and he never forced every intern to pay.
There were no Rp500,000 penalties back in 2019. One witness claims that interns would not receive certificates if the target was not met.
Paid internship programme was introduced in March 2020. Interns received Rp500,000 for three months. The amount was deducted to Rp300,000 for the next batch. Pay for a six-month internship is Rp700,000.
Every witness who testified to TFR disclosed that most divisions are filled with interns and led by interns. Each division is given a target. For instance, an article has to receive 2,000 views and the partnership team has to sign at least Rp10,000,000 worth of project every month.
According to some witnesses, the benchmark for work performance is set by the CEO himself. Therefore, salary might be deducted according to his standards and opinions without explanation.
Another witness stated that interns who perform well will be offered a leader position with a part-time contract and Rp250,000 monthly salary. However, the part timer bears similar responsibility and workload as full time employees.
Soon after the case went viral, the Ministry of Manpower reportedly visited and investigated the company. Akbar also made an apology statement on Campuspedia’s social media. He promised to improve the system and refund the penalties he collected from the interns. By the end of October, penalties collected from four interns have been refunded.
“I think there is dissatisfaction from participants of internship programmes in previous periods (April 2020-March 2021) that is unsolved when they complete [the programme]. There are things they want to communicate. That is why they reveal their concerns or other things that haven’t been told,” said Akbar to Detik.
TFR has reached out to Campuspedia and hasn’t received any response.
Image: Ministry of Manpower and Labour inspecting Campuspedia office
Unpaid internship: labour exploitation or acceptable practice?
Internship was originally intended for students to gain experience before entering the industry as a full time employee. However, it became a bargaining tool between companies looking for extra help and students needing work experience in their resume.
According to Manpower Ministerial Regulation (Permenaker) Number 6 Year 2021, the number of interns cannot surpass 20% of the total number of full time employees in a company.
The regulation also states that interns are not allowed to work on national holidays and are permitted to work according to the company's working hours. An interpretation is needed to determine whether unpaid internships are included in the definition of apprenticeship according to the law.
On the same note, the Ministry of Manpower in response to Campuspedia’s controversy states that the law doesn’t apply to university students at internships, though they hope that companies hiring student interns will comply with the ministerial regulation.
The practice of utilising the labour of unpaid interns, unfortunately, has been going on for a long time. Campuspedia might be the first one to get called out, but interns have long been the backbone of fashion brands and design studios.
One former intern at a famous Jakarta-based design studio confided to TFR that the studio made interns stay overnight to finish a client’s project. To top it off, some interns had food poisoning from the dinner prepared by the studio.
The phenomenon also takes place in other countries. Condè Nast, the parent company of Vogue and Vanity Fair, in 2013 was sued by interns for low to unpaid internships. The internship programme was abolished shortly after the lawsuit. A year later, the publishing company settled the lawsuit with a $5.8 million payout to 7,500 interns.
40 interns filed a class-action lawsuit against The Row, a fashion brand run by the Olsen twins, for making them work 50 hours a week without pay. They settled the lawsuit by paying up $140,000 to 185 interns.
The discourse over paid or unpaid internships might end up with a variety of answers. For accounts like TakTekBum and Ecommurz who believe in fair treatment and pay, interns should definitely be paid. For some university students, an internship-be it paid or unpaid-in exchange for credit is necessary to pass the class.
One thing for sure, cases like Campuspedia will exist from time to time. The practice of unpaid internships will continue as long as the demand is there.