April Employer Sentiment Survey: The Impact of COVID-19 on Summer 2020 Internships

In March, Indiana INTERNnet surveyed employers to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their summer 2020 internships. You may view the executive summary here. Since this has been an extremely fluid situation, Indiana INTERNnet sent another survey in April to see if – and how – anything has changed.

The survey was distributed to all employers registered on IndianaINTERN.net. In addition, it was shared with employer networks by Indiana colleges/universities and economic development organizations. A total of 181 responses were received.

Forty-six percent (84 employers) revealed they completed Indiana INTERNnet’s March survey. Of those 84 employers, 62% (52 employers) said  their answers had changed from the March survey.

Of those surveyed, 86% (156 employers) indicated that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, they were planning on hiring interns for summer 2020.

When those 156 employers were asked what types of interns their company plans/planned on hiring, here’s how they responded (employers were able to select multiple student types):

• College/university – 154 employers
• Graduate school – 34 employers
• High school – 21 employers
• Post-graduate – 13 employers
• Non-student – 6 employers

Fifty-four percent (84 employers) of the 156 employers that were planning on hiring interns prior to COVID-19 said they were planning on hiring between one to three interns. Twenty-three percent (36 employers) planned on hiring 10 or more interns.

With their current knowledge of events surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, 63% (114 employers) said they still plan on hiring interns. Of that 63%, 26 employers said they still plan on hiring interns with no changes to plans. Eighty-eight employers said they plan on hiring summer 2020 interns, but with changes to plans.

Those changes are (employers were able to select any/all changes):

• Changing internship start/end date – 51 employers
• Changing in-house internships to virtually hosted – 39 employers
• Hiring fewer interns – 34 employers
• Lowering intern hours per week – 18 employers
• Lowering intern hourly wage –2 employers
• Other – 11 employers

Compared to the March survey, the percentage of employers that plan on hiring summer 2020 interns with changes to plans increased by 10%. The number of employers that plan on hiring summer 2020 interns without changes to plans decreased by 19%. This signals that after a month, employers are realizing they must adapt their internship program to fit the current work environment due to COVID-19.

There were 45 employers that originally planned on hiring summer 2020 interns but are now no longer hiring interns due to COVID-19. Of those 45 employers, 31% (14 employers) are manufacturing organizations.

Indiana INTERNnet received responses from employers in a variety of industries. The most common represented were:

• Non-profit – other – 17%
• Government – 7%
• Manufacturing – 17%

Non-profit – health and human services, financial services – other and construction each contributed 5% of responses.

The most common Indiana counties represented were:

• Marion – 28%
• St. Joseph – 14%
• Allen – 10%
• Hamilton – 6%
• Vigo – 3%

Thirty-four percent of responses (62 employers) came from employers with 250-plus employees. Thirty-three percent of responses (59 employers) came from employers with between 1 and 24 employees.

Indiana INTERNnet is here to support your company’s internship needs or assist you in your internship search. If you would like to be contacted by someone on the Indiana INTERNnet team, please reach out.