finalreport

If I can do something to change my current work
environment, it will be to implement a joint
calendar shared within the whole team, including
the interns.
This main purpose of this calendar is so that e
veryone can input important dates, especially the
schedules of artistes. It will be a compact
document where the availability of anyone, staff
and artistes alike, can be accessed through the
work calendar without having to go through the
trouble of emailing to ask and waiting for a
response.
Personally, I have noticed a trend where my
colleagues who were in Commercial Engagement
would have to personally ask, or send an email to
an artiste’s manager to ask for his or her availability
for a shoot or appearance. It took up precious time
especially since the managers have to check back
to revert, and it could take up to days if they were
busy.
Implementing the calendar would cut short the
waiting time; because anyone in the team can
check on their own time so as long as the list is
updated. Time is of the essence especially since we
are dealing with external parties, and getting back
to them fast would present us as an efficient party
to work with, working out to be a win-win
situation on both ends.
I would also implement a stricter attendance
system, especially for the interns.
During a recent exit session with the Human
Resource (HR) department in Mediacorp, many
interns brought up the issue of working more
hours than what was required of them. There
were some contrasting differences in the way each
intern was treated. Some had a 9am-6pm working
hour policy where the intern leaves the office
punctually at 6pm. There were also interns like myself,
who are given the flexibility when it comes to
reporting hours for work, just as long as we clock
a certain amount of time in the office. Then there
were also a handful of interns who worked more
than 12 hours a day at least once a week because of
the team they were in was short of manpower.
“compensation” was through time-off. However,
because this was not heavily implemented, most
of the interns who work extra hours would not ask
for time-off, especially if their supervisors never
brought it up.
For a more balanced internship experience, I think
it is important when we have strict rules when it
comes to attendance. This is especially so if the
intern works in a department with irregular hours,
like in production. The system can be a simple
function on our own intranet, where the intern
can key in the number of working hours they have
worked that week and it will show the number of
extra hours this intern has worked. Based on this
statistic, the intern can then claim time-off that is
rightfully theirs, as mentioned by the HR department.
This is so that the intern does not overwork,
and run the risk of having an unpleasant and tireless
internship altogether.
I noticed that most of the Mass Communication
interns handle their company’s social media pages
during internship, hence I think it will be important
for Social Media Strategies (SMS), a current
Year 3 elective module, to be taught a compulsory
module for Mass Communication.
Handling social media pages is not as easy as
simply uploading pictures with a copy attached.
It takes a lot of debating on what to upload, when
to upload and where to upload, and especially so
if you’re handling an account to a large number of
followers.
Take for example TCA’s social media pages. As
mentioned, our main goal is to promote our
artistes on this alternative platform other than on
television or on air. Our social media pages give
and insight of the lives of the fans’ favorite stars,
and it is important for us to be able to understand
their wants and update our pages according to
trends.
Rather than learning while on the job during internship,
I think it is only beneficial if we have this
prior knowledge to best execute any social media
campaigns in future.
We were told from the beginning that we will not
be paid for working overtime, and our only
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