Friday May 27, 2022 at 4:09pm
Solid Solutions have joined hundreds of other businesses in signing the Internship Pledge led by Design Truth to ensure a fair wage for all interns throughout the Industrial Design industry.
We spoke to Brad Harper, Founder of Design Truth, and the
Internship Pledge to learn more about what drove this movement.
“The foundation of the pledge is to do the right
thing. By proxy, we have set up an industry ecosystem where only those
born into wealth can survive in industrial design. You might argue that
reflects society, but I do not want to be associated with a sector that holds
diversity with such poor regard. For example, you can find a greater
level of gender diversity in American mining that you can UK Industrial
Design. Unpaid internships symbolise design elitism - it's time we truly
made the space inclusive and accessible for all. Not just those that can afford
it.”
Solid Solutions have signed the Internship pledge! - But
what does this all mean?
-
By signing the Internship Pledge led by Design Truth, Solid
Solutions are stating that:
- We believe that industrial design interns should
be paid at least the living wage.
- We will externally provide complete clarity of
industrial design internship salaries on all job vacancies that we advertise.
These are made accessible on the Design Truth Design Directory.
-
We will not endorse, promote, or refer a
designer to an internship position where the salary is below the living wage.
- We will not accept applications from interns who
actively offer to work for free or below the living wage.
Although these standards are aimed specifically at the
Industrial Design industry, Solid Solutions is committed to upholding them
across their entire internship programme
“Our internship programme is well established and hugely
important in terms of developing our future talent pipeline. Our interns
perform an important role and therefore we are committed to providing an
appropriate compensation package to reward them for their hard work.” –
Kelly Shorthouse, HR Manager at Solid Solutions.
Take a look at our careers page to learn more about the
opportunities available at Solid Solutions. LINK
We're not alone!
With the pledge getting over 150 sign-ups in the first 6
hours, it shows that there are plenty of companies dedicated to driving this
movement, with more being added each day.
We're proud to be part of this, and to see that a host of
our customers have also signed the pledge, providing a fair working environment
for their interns, here’s a list to name a few:
You can view the full list in a handy map view here.
What does it mean for those currently looking for
internships?
If you're currently looking for an internship, you can rest
assured that any company who has signed the pledge is committed to providing a
legitimate, fair-paid role. This means that you can learn, while gaining
relevant, hands-on industry experience as well as at the very least, living
wage.