Internships promise entry into professional life: learning skills, building networks, and proving oneself. Yet the intern’s position—temporary, low-power, and highly visible—makes them uniquely vulnerable to the informal economies of office life: social games, implicit expectations, and the “4-play” of networking, flattery, deviation, and compliance that determine who advances. Understanding these dynamics reveals how workplaces reproduce inequality and how modest reforms can produce more equitable, educative internship programs.
Standing at the head of the boardroom table, clicker in hand, presenting your end-of-internship project. office 4-play: intern edition
The interns were paired up with a "buddy" – a current employee who would show them the ropes and introduce them to the team. Over lunch, the pairs went on a "coffee walk" around the office, meeting different colleagues and hearing about their projects and interests. This helped the interns build connections and feel more comfortable asking questions. Standing at the head of the boardroom table,
: On each turn, a player rolls a die to see how many actions they can take. Actions could include moving around the office, completing tasks (like selling paper or pranking Dwight), or drawing "office event" cards. This helped the interns build connections and feel