Human Resources Ministry Launches Incentives To Encourage Employers To Hire Interns

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The initiative is an ecosystem of internship incentives for employers, driven by TalentCorp and other agencies under the ministry.

It comprises four components — National Structured Internship Programme (MySIP), Internship Matching Grant for SMEs (LiKES), Industrial Training Scheme (ITS), and MyNext profiling and internship placement platform.

MySIP was introduced in 2012 to encourage companies to provide students with meaningful practical learning experience through approved structured internship modules. It gives eligible employers a double tax deduction incentive for related expenses incurred on interns.

LiKES is an internship placement matching grant by TalentCorp for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups.

ITS is a scheme that enables employers to utilise their levy to sponsor students from a university, college, or training institution to undergo practical training at their organisation.

MyNext profiling and internship placement platform is an all-in-one talent solution and analytics platform for students, universities, companies and the workforce. Companies can look to hire interns on the platform.

Eligible applicants must offer internship placements lasting a minimum of 10 weeks and provide a stipulated minimum internship allowance.

For interns pursuing diplomas, the minimum allowance required is RM500 a month, and TalentCorp will reimburse employers RM250 a month.

For interns pursuing a bachelor's degree, master's degree, or professional certificate, the minimum allowance required is RM600 a month, and TalentCorp will reimburse employers RM300 a month.

"For the first time, the government has introduced an internship matching grant to support our SMEs and startups. Now, more employers can take part in a collective nation-building effort to nurture our young talents.

"LiKES, together with the existing MySIP, will help to provide work readiness and welfare by offering allowances during the training period.

"This will help level the internship playing field for SMEs who constituted 97% of total businesses in Malaysia and contributed 48.2% to the country's employment in 2022," he said.

"As KESUMA's strategic think tank, TalentCorp engages with industry and academia to develop guidelines for employers to prioritise interns' skill enhancement and welfare. These efforts will be reflected in the upcoming National HR Policy, enabling employers to responsibly manage their internship programmes," he added.

According to Sim, there is currently no standardisation or guidelines for internships in Malaysia. A well-designed internship playbook is essential to ensure an internship programme can meet the needs of the economy in the future.

The framework for the National Internship Policy will be announced at the launch of the National HR Policy during Labour Day.

Programmes like MySIP have benefitted both students and employers — over 112,000 students have been part of this programme since 2012, with 600 companies participating each year.

In 2023 alone, MySIP companies received approximately RM3.2 million in tax incentives.

With the RM30 million fund from TalentCorp, LiKES is targetting to cover 25,000 to 30,000 interns between 2024 to 2026.

"Structured internships serve as one of the key strategies to develop quality talent, reduce youth unemployment, address skills mismatch and underemployment, and improve talent skillsets to meet both current and future industry needs," he said.

Matthew encouraged SMEs and startups, especially those operating outside of cities, to apply for LiKES and provide meaningful internship opportunities to the up-and-coming workforce.

"More importantly, we seek to strategically facilitate the transition of talent from educational institutions to the workplace while also providing financial support to SMEs, enabling them to proactively participate in nurturing local talent," he added.

This article originally appeared on the New Straits Times, with rights to be republished on SAYS.

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