New Pilots see it as a way of building hours to get themselves a job. There is no shortage of new low time pilots willing to do this. It's called volunteering over here in Australia. The CPL arrives volunteers his/her time until one of the more experienced pilots moves on and then they get a paying postion. Pay for a new pilot here is about 25K if they are lucky.
I have always been paid to fly but there are so many low hour pilots dreaming about becoming a Helicopter pilot that this will never stop.
In saying that if it was a good mate needing a hand in a non revenue situation I would help them out for free. If the machine was making money then I would expect my daily rate and some beers.
