AIBC Intern Architect Survey Results (Part 1)

Thank you to those who participated in the survey. The survey results will be used by the AIBC’s Registration and Licensing Board as well as the National Intern Architect Program Task Force to drive changes to the Intern Architect Program (IAP). To view the results of the first survey, click here. Please stay tuned, as we will have a second survey posted soon. The following is a summary of the results written by Johnnie Kuo IA.AIBC, a member of the Intern Architect Committee:

The survey has drawn its result from 59 responses. Most respondents (over 84%) have never been registered as intern architects outside of Canada or BC. There is a small percentage (15%) of respondents who are registered architects outside of Canada. Nearly 73% of respondent interns are employed full time, while 12% are unemployed.

Highlights from the survey results:

• When choosing firms, level of responsibility granted is rated “Very Important’ for 63% of respondents, size of firm and benefits are rated “Somewhat Important” by 42% of respondents; identity of firm principals seems to be least important.
• Over 60% of interns feel they are sufficiently exposed to a range of work that allow them to fulfill CERB requirement; among the remaining 37%, most often identified issues are lack of contract administration, construction and site related experience.
• Two-thirds of respondents are paid annual salary, compensated for overtime pay that is either straight time banked as holiday time or time-and-a-half paid out/towards holidays. The same percentage reported that they do not supplement income with outside work.
• 25% of respondents are paid 60K or more; about 56% are paid between 45K and 60K annually. The same percentage of respondents feel their compensation package is fair. Two-thirds of respondents reported that their compensation package insufficient to meet their living needs.
• Most commonly provided benefits are full payment of AIBC annual dues, cost shared dental, and AIBC PD courses.
• Most concerning is the fact that nearly 60% of respondents do not find the time and effort spend towards getting registered as an architect worth it from a professional or personal perspective. They also do not feel that they have been adequately compensated financially for the time and effort already spent towards getting registered.

Future survey topics and pertinent comments include:

• Employment standards and compensation
• Ethics
• AIBC improved monitoring or regulation of the current system to ensure interns are getting appropriate experience
• NCARB
• Support and respect for interns in their professional development, work environment, and finances
• Intern resources and peer support (juggling demands from work, exams, and courses while maintaining a healthy life style)
• Internship process here in BC vs. elsewhere
• CERB and exams, NCARB exams vs. EXAC
• Young firms and design culture
• Registration requirements
• Perspectives from self-employed or contract-base interns
• Unemployment