Adopted at the EDF executive August 2018
In accordance with the European Quality Charter on Internships and apprenticeships following the recommendations in the European Youth Forum’s Employer’s Guide to Quality Internships, we drafted this internal internship policy to guide our collaboration with interns and trainees.
This policy aims at giving guidelines to set up and maintain a quality internships framework within the organisation and to ensure that, from the selection of the interns to the end of their internship, all the aspects such as recruitment, compensation and supervision are covered, according to the quality standards and code of conduct stipulated in this document.
The European Disability Forum defines internships as either:
The internship must be a win-win situation for both the organisation and the intern. Therefore, before opening any internship position EDF should:
In order to offer a good supervision and quality internships, EDF will:
The Director will determine the organisational needs for internship support and determine the internship supervisor in each case
The internship must be officially formalised. No internship can start without a signed internship agreement and without making sure that all legal requirements (insurance, maximum duration, compensation, learning experience) are fulfilled.
Internship in the framework of the studies
The internship agreement provided by the university/school is signed by three parties (the host organisation, the educational establishment and the student). Before signing the agreement, make sure that there is an accident at work insurance coverage supported by the university and check the university requirements in terms of financial compensation, educational credits and learning outcomes.
Under the current Belgian legislation, internships performed outside of the educational framework should be carried out under the “Convention d’immersion professionnelle (CIP)”. Any paid internship within the EDF should be registered under the CIP and comply with the legal requirements in terms of minimum compensation wage and training programme validation.
The call should mention:
Internship interviews should be organised and conducted the same way as for employees. However, specific attention should be paid to the fact that this interview would probably be the first contact of the candidate with the professional world and also their first job experience.
For this reason, the interviewer should focus on the candidate’s potential, volunteering experience, soft-skills and learning expectations as well as give a constructive feedback at the end of the selection process.
What kind of financial compensation do we offer?
Paid internships offered by EDF are compensated with an amount equivalent to the standard for CIP. In addition to the compensation, EDF grants:
The interns should not do overtime.
In the case of events such as EDF Governance events for which the intern has shown an interest in taking part, any work performed above the regular working time will be compensated by an equivalent recuperation time off. In the event that an intern works during the weekend, either in Brussels or elsewhere, at the explicit request of the supervisor or Director, a time sheet showing this overtime must be submitted to Director or Finance and HR Officer before time is taken off in lieu of these hours.
In accordance with Belgian legislation, time off in lieu for overtime worked at the weekend is granted as follows:
One day and a half per Saturday worked, two days per Sunday or statutory public holiday.
The main aim of the internship being to acquire knowledge and skills, the EDF is eager to give interns the opportunity to attend staff's internal and/or external training courses that could be beneficial to them, in line with available budget and as agreed with the supervisor.
The aim of the internship being to learn, it is important to set up a training plan with the intern.
The general learning objectives are set before the internship. Once the intern has started with these objectives, their supervisor has 2 weeks to further develop and discuss them with the intern.
Internships conducted under the “Convention d’Immersion Professionelle” must include a training plan. This “plan de formation” must be approved in advance by Brussels Formation for the CIP to be legally valid.
The learning plan should mention the goal of the internship, a timeline, the name of the supervisor, a description of the tasks, and the set of competencies that will be developed
On their first day, the intern will be welcomed by their supervisor and the Director or Finance and HR officer. They will be introduced to the staff members and will receive an induction plan and information relevant to their work at the EDF. During the Induction, the interns will receive briefings on the following:
The supervisor plays a key role as they will train, mentor and assess the intern’s work. Therefore, it is important that they are eager and available to take on this responsibility.
Considering the importance of supervising a student or intern, only people who have undergone a training on intern supervision or staff management can guide and supervise interns.
In order to create and maintain good working relations the supervisor must keep regular contacts with the intern through formal and informal meetings. It is also essential that they have a mid-term meeting with the intern’s university based supervisor. The intern’s supervisor should at least have one mid-term meeting with the university/school.
The intern must receive regular feedback and guidance from their supervisor but also from people they work with. At the end of the internship, an evaluation of the work done and the skills acquired will be conducted by the supervisor.
For internships in the framework of the studies, an evaluation form shall be provided by the educational establishment.
A record of these assessments shall be kept. Hence the supervisor shall provide the Office Manager with a copy. Once the end of internship evaluation form has been submitted to the Office Manager, an internship attestation will be delivered.
During a review meeting, the supervisor will assess how well the intern performed, what they learned, what were their strengths and weaknesses and the attitude shown.
A letter of recommendation can be issued upon request.
In line with the recommendations in the European Youth Forum’s Employers' Guide to Quality Internships:
The interns are given the opportunity to:
Director:
Intern’s Supervisor:
HR Manager: