Paid internships for trans persons on the increase

Do Pride Internship programmes offered to those from the LGBTQ+ community convert into full-time jobs, and what can companies do to make the workplace more inclusive for people of all genders?

There is a sense that paid corporate internships are opening up for trans persons. There is also a sense that these internships often end up as just internships, not progressing to employment with that company.

There are heartening stories. Jyan Sharma’s is one of them. A trans person, Jyan joined Publicis Sapient as an intern under its eight-month Rainbow internship programme, and has continued with it as a full-time junior associate in agile program management. From his own account, Jyan is thriving in his job.

But there could be more such stories.

Shaman Gupta, chief executive officer, Tweet Foundation, an organisation working with trans persons, says the absorption rate of trans candidates from such internship programmes is generally low.

Among reasons attributed to this situation are: Overall vacancies in the company being low, and two, the trans person encountering bias and therefore seeking employment elsewhere.

Shaman reveals a good number of trans candidates the Tweet Foundation has worked with have moved from one internship to another without finding employment. New employees from the trans community need considerable hand-holding to feel at home in a company. The same is true of interns from the community.

Publicis Sapient trains and mentors trans persons for eight to 10 months with extensive help from its internal business resource groups (BRGs).