INTERN PRODUCTIVITY STUDY

The Internship Institute completed a 5-year study on ‘live’ internship programs which demonstrates that a single, qualified manager can gain 225 full 8-hour workdays of productivity in a calendar year by effectively utilizing college interns.

The results overwhelmingly refute any misconception that having an internship program involves too much time and work for too little in return. The study involved The Internship Institute’s first-hand experience managing internship programs through 14 full semester cycles. The study validates the value internship programs can yield by shifting the paradigm of time and work productivity management.

* Supervision hours per week during each academic term actually ranged from 4 to 7 hours. The application of 10 hours per week accounts for total program management time, which factors that for pre-program student recruitment, project planning, and administration.

** The annual net productivity yield does not factor the additional variable productivity that an intern project manager will gain as a natural outcome of having more time to achieve higher level tasks and being more productive themselves.

Potential productivity is a natural reflection of individual commitment, ability and experience. Other factors involve the dynamic complexities of specific work projects and the sophistication of the program overall.