Companies without an internship policy rediscover the same questions every cycle: how long, how much, who mentors, what leave, what happens at the end. Each rediscovery is negotiated by a different manager, which is how two interns doing identical work end up on different stipends — a fact they will discover, because they talk to each other.
A policy is not bureaucracy here; it is the thing that lets managers say yes to an intern quickly. Below is a complete policy you can adapt, and the decisions you need to make before you publish it.
The decisions to make before you write it
- Who can host an intern
- Any manager, or only those who have hosted before / completed a briefing? An unmentored intern is worse than no intern, and this clause is where you prevent that.
- Standard durations
- Pick two — typically 2–3 months for summer, 6 months for semester. Unlimited flexibility means every request becomes a negotiation.
- Stipend bands
- By role family and city, not per hire. This is the clause that prevents the two-interns-different-money problem.
- Headcount and conversion
- Are conversion seats decided before the internship or after? Decide before. Programmes that leave it open convert worse and lose the interns they wanted.
- Exam leave
- Almost every Indian intern will have an exam during the internship. Write the rule once.
- Access and data
- What systems interns get, what they never get, and who approves exceptions.
The sample policy — copy this
[COMPANY NAME] — INTERNSHIP POLICY
Effective: [date] | Owner: [HR / People Team] | Review: annually
1. PURPOSE
This policy governs internships at [Company]. Internships exist to give students and recent graduates real, supervised work experience, and to build a pipeline of early-career talent for [Company].
2. SCOPE
Applies to all internships across all teams and locations, paid or academic-credit.
3. ELIGIBILITY (INTERNS)
3.1 Students in their final two years of study, or graduates within [12] months of graduation.
3.2 Legally eligible to work in India.
3.3 Where the internship is for academic credit, the institution's requirements will be met.
4. ELIGIBILITY (HOSTING TEAMS)
4.1 A team may host an intern only where a named mentor has been identified and has capacity for at least [4] hours a week.
4.2 A scoped project with a definition of done must exist before the intern starts.
4.3 The hosting manager completes the internship briefing before the intern joins.
5. DURATION
5.1 Standard durations are [2–3] months (summer) and [6] months (semester).
5.2 Extensions require approval from [role] and a revised end date in writing.
6. STIPEND
6.1 All internships at [Company] are paid.
6.2 Stipends follow the published bands by role family and city. Bands are reviewed [annually].
6.3 Stipends are paid by the [Nth] of the following month.
7. WORKING HOURS, LOCATION AND LEAVE
7.1 Interns work [hours] on [days], [in office / hybrid / remote per role].
7.2 Interns receive [N] days of leave over the internship.
7.3 Examination leave is granted on reasonable notice and does not count against this entitlement.
8. SUPERVISION AND REVIEW
8.1 Every intern has a named mentor and a weekly one-to-one.
8.2 A written midpoint review and a written final review are mandatory.
8.3 Interns receive their reviews in writing; nothing at the final review should be new information.
9. CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY AND DATA
9.1 Interns are bound by the [Company] code of conduct and its confidentiality and data-protection policies.
9.2 Interns receive the minimum system access their project requires. Exceptions are approved by [role].
9.3 Access is revoked on the last day.
10. CONVERSION TO FULL-TIME
10.1 Conversion seats, where available, are identified before the internship begins.
10.2 Conversion decisions are based on the documented review criteria, not on availability alone.
10.3 Interns are told their conversion outcome within [N] weeks of the internship ending, either way.
11. COMPLETION AND EXIT
11.1 Interns who complete the agreed duration and deliverables receive a completion certificate and, on request, a written reference.
11.2 Exit includes return of equipment, revocation of access and a short exit conversation.
12. HARASSMENT AND GRIEVANCE
Interns have the same access to the grievance and anti-harassment mechanisms as employees, including the Internal Committee constituted under applicable law. This is communicated to every intern during onboarding.
13. POLICY OWNERSHIP
Owned by [HR / People Team]. Reviewed annually.The clause most companies leave out
Clause 12. Interns are within the scope of India's workplace anti-harassment framework, and they are also the group least likely to know how to raise a complaint or to feel able to. Naming the mechanism in the policy and repeating it during onboarding is both a legal expectation and the single most protective thing you can do for a cohort of twenty-year-olds in their first workplace.
Frequently asked
Does a small company need a written internship policy?+
If you take more than two or three interns a year, yes — not for compliance theatre but because it stops every internship being negotiated from scratch by a different manager. Two interns doing the same work on different stipends is the usual symptom of not having one, and they will find out.
Should the policy require internships to be paid?+
We would say yes, and the sample policy does. Beyond the ethics, unpaid internships narrow your applicant pool to candidates who can afford to work for free, which is not a selection criterion anyone would defend out loud.
Are interns covered by workplace harassment law in India?+
Interns fall within the scope of the 2013 Act's definition of an aggrieved workplace participant, and a company with an Internal Committee should treat interns as covered. Say so explicitly in the policy and in onboarding — interns are the least likely group to know the mechanism exists.
How long should an internship be?+
Long enough for the intern to get past ramp-up and produce something, which in practice means at least six to eight weeks for most roles. Below that you pay the onboarding cost without the output. Two standard durations — a summer one and a semester one — cover almost every case.
Should the policy promise conversion?+
No, but it should say how conversion decisions are made and when interns will be told. The failure mode is not "we did not offer conversion", it is "nobody told them either way for two months".