[pfannkuchen]

His point is that the engineers wanting to opt for "not intern" isn't really a data point on whether interns are helpful. It may instead be a data point on the propensity for people to opt out of work when they have a good excuse.

[fragmede]

Wouldn't it go the other way? Instead of working, you're "mentoring the intern" over a long lunch and telling them long meandering stories about company lore.

[pfannkuchen]

In my experience hosting an intern does not count much towards your review. So sure, but you also could have done nothing and your review would probably be the same as if you hosted an intern.

It’s possible somewhere does properly incentivize this, but the companies who were regarded as doing it the best still don’t in my experience (at least once the company gets bigger than a startup).