Ah. So if you're sitting on your ass just waiting for the week to end you're not actually working? ;-) I understand you don't think you get anything out of it, but what is your employer getting out of it for them to do this?

Some anecdotal experience (feel free to ignore it if it does not apply to you) At my company we usually have one or two young (17-19yr) persons doing "work experience" in the office environment. What I've learned over the years is that for most the single biggest thing they can end up learning is a work ethic. And I don't mean the basics as arriving in time and spending the allocated hours in the chair. I mean the taking a genuine interest in whatever they're doing and shaping their own experience.

There seem to be two types of persons doing "work experience". I end up approaching them completely differently. * The first type are the people who do their three to six months and at the end just leave without having done (or learned),.. anything. Often with the "project" / "research question" half finished (if they had one at all). These are the people I don't put time and effort in either (they get paid a bit, get a chair / desk / coffee / tea and that's it). * The second type are the people who keep asking questions; ask why something is done the way it is; don't spend half the day on Reddit on "off time days" when instead they can be walking around the office or spend time actively trying to read up on work-related stuff. These persons I will eventually ask to tag along when I visit a client or I'll ask them to research something and then reflect upon it so they can learn from that. Both groups get the same amount o money but in addition to that group two also receives a meaningful experience. It takes effort from both parties.