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rslrunner
Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Posts: 252
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 Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2013 6:10 pm Post subject: Is AEON right for you? Pros and Cons |
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This topic examines AEON as a company, and whether someone would enjoy being there.
The point here is not to build up nor trash the company. The point is to make clear who would be a good fit for AEON, and who would not.
One open questions is whether the corporate practices of AEON are the norm in Japan, or the exception. I welcome any answers to that question.
The one declarative statement I would make is that the older one is, the less likely one will be able to adapt to AEON's requirements. I believe that AEON would be better off on recruiting young people, as their corporate culture would be less appealing to individuals who are more set in their ways.
In any event, I list the pros and cons below:
Pros:
AEON provides new employees with an easy way to get to Japan. They allow you to get a working visa. They arrange an apartment and numerous issues related to living in Japan. They make sure that foreigners will be able to live in Japan without too much hassle.
The company will not play games with getting paid. The pay is OK, although not as good as South Korea. You have to pay for your flight there and the visa at first, although the visa fee is reimbursed. But you can live comfortably in Japan, even if you won't be able to save very much.
There have been English companies in Japan that have gone out of business because of shabby and unscrupulous business practices. AEON is not one of those companies.
The methodology for the classes isn't provided until you arrive in Japan, so you have to pick it up very quickly. Once you get the hang of it, working gets easier and easier. Everything is laid out for you to follow. The methodology can be helpful in any TEFL environment, although following it line for line would be counter-productive outside of the AEON bubble.
You get to live in Japan, which is a unique place in the world. And AEON can lead to other opportunities within Japan. The job for most people does not last for more than a year, but it can. And the Japanese visa would still be in effect even after your AEON contract ends.
Cons:
Are you willing to adapt to a Japanese corporate culture? Think about this answer very carefully. It is a tightly wound environment that demands a lot more than a willingness to achieve specific professional goals.
At the interviews and presentations, AEON employees will talk within a tightly subscribed format. For me, it created the feeling that someone was talking at me, not with me. I thought this pattern would subside while in Japan, but it became more pronounced. Would you feel comfortable speaking with someone that way all the time?
The company continuously stresses flexibility amongst its staff, and yet is notable for its strictness and complete inflexibility in its expectations. Are you comfortable working for a group that extols radically different values for its employees than for itself?
Are you willing to work overtime without pay?
Are you comfortable with employees correcting you for behavior that has nothing to do with teaching? Are you willing to have someone tell you to "be more happy"? Would you find this to be constructive advice in any situation?
Would you feel comfortable having someone watching you all the time?
Are you comfortable with making a distinction between your private self and your public persona? Do you think you could live your life this way?
If the answer to any or all of these questions is no, then AEON is not for you. |
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sicklyman
Joined: 02 Feb 2013
Posts: 930
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| Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2013 6:44 pm Post subject: |
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this a very helpful and informative post. Thanks for sharing it.  |
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Pitarou
Joined: 16 Nov 2009
Posts: 1116
Location: Narita, Japan
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| Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 12:08 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for sharing this information. You are clearly unhappy with AEON, but I think you've tried to be fair.
I can see that you put a lot of thought into writing this, so I hope you don't mind me suggesting an improvement. The pros part is good: clear and factual. Unfortunately, the cons part degenerates into a bunch of complaints dressed up as rhetorical questions. "Would you be comfortable with this? (I sure wasn't!)"
I suggest that you stick to the same style all the way through. Something like this:
| Quote: |
Cons:
Culture
Rigid conformity in attitude, manner and speech, even when talking to colleagues. Teachers must maintain an artificial "company man" persona at all times.
Working conditions
Staff must be highly flexible, because the company is not. This flexibility includes unpaid overtime.
etc... |
Could you say more about the working conditions? In these matters, the devil is always in the details. |
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Dishonest Abe
Joined: 16 Jun 2013
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 1:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Could you actually be specific? All your cons are just rhetorical questions and doesn't help any of us at all. All you did was say things without explaining them. How were you watched all the time? Payed without overtime? Who would like any of these things? Please explain, oshiete kudasai.. |
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HLJHLJ
Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 1218
Location: Ecuador
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| Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 5:10 pm Post subject: Re: Is AEON right for you? Pros and Cons |
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A lot of this stuff is just Japanese working culture. It's a lot more about employees doing as the manager says than some people are used to, especially coming from Western work cultures which can be less hierarchical.
| rslrunner wrote: |
Are you willing to work overtime without pay?
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AEON do pay overtime, though I don't know the exact details, but the contract says the maximum number of lessons you have to teach, and if you are asked to cover more than that they pay overtime.
I wonder if the OP means they don't pay for prep time outside of allocated office hours. In which case, no they don't, but I don't know any other school that would either. In these sorts of low level jobs with specific methodologies most new starters will be putting in unpaid prep time until they find their feet.
| rslrunner wrote: |
Are you comfortable with employees correcting you for behavior that has nothing to do with teaching? |
From what I recall of the original problems, this was about cultural expectations, for example, not putting your hands in your pocket or behind your back, not sitting on desks, etc. Yes there are rules about these things in many schools, there are rules about lots of things in Japan. As foreigners we sometimes get a little more lee way in day to day life, but ignoring them in an observed training situation, especially after having been warned previously, is unlikely to end well.
| rslrunner wrote: |
Are you willing to have someone tell you to "be more happy"? Would you find this to be constructive advice in any situation? |
Ah the need to be genki, again, not in any way special to AEON. It is expected in most jobs here, especially language schools. If you have done the most basic research about teaching in Japan it shouldn't come as a surprise to you.
To qualify the above, I don't work for AEON, but I have a number of close friends who do, so my information is second hand. |
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rslrunner
Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Posts: 252
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| Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 2:48 am Post subject: |
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| Dishonest Abe wrote: |
| Could you actually be specific? All your cons are just rhetorical questions and doesn't help any of us at all. All you did was say things without explaining them. How were you watched all the time? Payed without overtime? Who would like any of these things? Please explain, oshiete kudasai.. |
Well, sicklyman liked the post, so when you say that the "rhetorical questions doesn't help any of us at all", you are being both presumptuous and wrong. But I'd be happy to provide specifics.
Overtime, working overtime without pay: at my original interview, I was told specifically that AEON does not provide overtime. That was their stated policy as of last year.
The working day at AEON does provide for preparation time. However, there are other responsibilities that a teacher has to meet: evaluating new students, marketing materials, cleaning at the end of the day. As a new teacher, it would be especially important to prep before and after the regular day in order to be prepared to teach.
HLJHLJ wrote, “I wonder if the OP means they don't pay for prep time outside of allocated office hours. In which case, no they don't, but I don't know any other school that would either. In these sorts of low level jobs with specific methodologies most new starters will be putting in unpaid prep time until they find their feet.”
Yes, I meant that they don’t pay for prep time. No, most schools won’t pay for that. I’ve worked as a teacher in jobs that pay far less and I worked very hard to prepare each day outside of school hours. Which is fine, but the reality is that one has to work far more hours than is laid out beforehand. This reality should be made explicit.
Being watched: at my first interview, I noticed that whenever one was making a presentation, another AEON staffer was observing everyone else. I didn’t mind, as it was at the interview. But the same pattern occurred during the orientation, where there is one employee just observing and taking notes on everything one does. The same pattern occurs at schools based on multiple first-hand experiences, where any kind of behavior can be open to criticism.
Does AEON have the right to observe its employees? Sure. But there is a point when necessary supervision devolves into a situation that would make many people uncomfortable.
If AEON is going to watch people all the time to the point where it begins to feel a bit Orwellian, fine. But this practice is a constant for AEON employees, and it should be made explicit.
Genkiness: Well, yes, this is the key for most situations in Japan, isn’t it?
Genkiness means enthusiastic and engaged and basically willing.
I did quite a bit of research on Japan, and I encountered the phrase, but I didn’t quite get the magnitude of its importance until arriving. Some things have to be experienced.
My rhetorical question stems from an anonymous AEON employee writing about how a manager told him/her to “be more happy”.
I thought it was a strange but isolated incident. But in retrospect, it tells you a lot about AEON, and perhaps teaching in Japan as well. (Whether AEON’s practices are as strict as other language schools is something I don’t know.) The question may serve as a litmus test as to whether AEON is right for you.
If someone tells me to be more happy, well, that won’t work. I would be less happy after that admonition, because the person is acting as if they have a right to my emotions, and inner space.
But that notion does not exist in Japan. You work for a group, and so everything that you bring to the table is fair game. So you need to be happy!
The balance between the need for personal sovereignty, and the need for group harmony raises a lot of interesting questions. (It may also reflect differences between the U.S. and Japan.) But this is no academic exercise. One needs to know that all of one’s behavior and mannerisms are fair game. If you work for AEON, it’s all fair game. This absolutely must be made explicit.
Summary: Japan has a lot going for it. A lot of people would credit the group mindset that demands that everyone does their part. But there is a large price to be paid. If one is on the outside of society in Japan looking in, if you are bullied at school, or homeless, or in a prison, or emotionally unhappy, then Japan has got to be one of the most unpleasant places on the planet. There is no outlet for you, no escape from the feelings inside one’s head.
The rhetorical questions that I provided are not happy or genki and yes, they are meant to steer people to certain conclusions. But the questions are an accurate reflection of what occurs, and need to be asked.
I think happiness comes through working out issues and laying things right on the table, and being honest with one’s self, and sometimes accepting negative emotions within one’s self, not bottling it up until one goes crazy. No tatemae (the veiling of emotions) for me. This, of course, is not the Japanese way. Had I known then what I know now….
But at least readers of this who are considering AEON can get the tough questions out the way. So people who are cut out for AEON can thrive there, while people who are not cut out for AEON can avoid it. All of these things should be made explicit. |
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Dishonest Abe
Joined: 16 Jun 2013
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 4:20 am Post subject: |
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| rslrunner wrote: |
| Dishonest Abe wrote: |
| Could you actually be specific? All your cons are just rhetorical questions and doesn't help any of us at all. All you did was say things without explaining them. How were you watched all the time? Payed without overtime? Who would like any of these things? Please explain, oshiete kudasai.. |
Well, sicklyman liked the post, so when you say that the "rhetorical questions doesn't help any of us at all", you are being both presumptuous and wrong. But I'd be happy to provide specifics.
Overtime, working overtime without pay: at my original interview, I was told specifically that AEON does not provide overtime. That was their stated policy as of last year.
The working day at AEON does provide for preparation time. However, there are other responsibilities that a teacher has to meet: evaluating new students, marketing materials, cleaning at the end of the day. As a new teacher, it would be especially important to prep before and after the regular day in order to be prepared to teach.
HLJHLJ wrote, “I wonder if the OP means they don't pay for prep time outside of allocated office hours. In which case, no they don't, but I don't know any other school that would either. In these sorts of low level jobs with specific methodologies most new starters will be putting in unpaid prep time until they find their feet.”
Yes, I meant that they don’t pay for prep time. No, most schools won’t pay for that. I’ve worked as a teacher in jobs that pay far less and I worked very hard to prepare each day outside of school hours. Which is fine, but the reality is that one has to work far more hours than is laid out beforehand. This reality should be made explicit.
Being watched: at my first interview, I noticed that whenever one was making a presentation, another AEON staffer was observing everyone else. I didn’t mind, as it was at the interview. But the same pattern occurred during the orientation, where there is one employee just observing and taking notes on everything one does. The same pattern occurs at schools based on multiple first-hand experiences, where any kind of behavior can be open to criticism.
Does AEON have the right to observe its employees? Sure. But there is a point when necessary supervision devolves into a situation that would make many people uncomfortable.
If AEON is going to watch people all the time to the point where it begins to feel a bit Orwellian, fine. But this practice is a constant for AEON employees, and it should be made explicit.
Genkiness: Well, yes, this is the key for most situations in Japan, isn’t it?
Genkiness means enthusiastic and engaged and basically willing.
I did quite a bit of research on Japan, and I encountered the phrase, but I didn’t quite get the magnitude of its importance until arriving. Some things have to be experienced.
My rhetorical question stems from an anonymous AEON employee writing about how a manager told him/her to “be more happy”.
I thought it was a strange but isolated incident. But in retrospect, it tells you a lot about AEON, and perhaps teaching in Japan as well. (Whether AEON’s practices are as strict as other language schools is something I don’t know.) The question may serve as a litmus test as to whether AEON is right for you.
If someone tells me to be more happy, well, that won’t work. I would be less happy after that admonition, because the person is acting as if they have a right to my emotions, and inner space.
But that notion does not exist in Japan. You work for a group, and so everything that you bring to the table is fair game. So you need to be happy!
The balance between the need for personal sovereignty, and the need for group harmony raises a lot of interesting questions. (It may also reflect differences between the U.S. and Japan.) But this is no academic exercise. One needs to know that all of one’s behavior and mannerisms are fair game. If you work for AEON, it’s all fair game. This absolutely must be made explicit.
Summary: Japan has a lot going for it. A lot of people would credit the group mindset that demands that everyone does their part. But there is a large price to be paid. If one is on the outside of society in Japan looking in, if you are bullied at school, or homeless, or in a prison, or emotionally unhappy, then Japan has got to be one of the most unpleasant places on the planet. There is no outlet for you, no escape from the feelings inside one’s head.
The rhetorical questions that I provided are not happy or genki and yes, they are meant to steer people to certain conclusions. But the questions are an accurate reflection of what occurs, and need to be asked.
I think happiness comes through working out issues and laying things right on the table, and being honest with one’s self, and sometimes accepting negative emotions within one’s self, not bottling it up until one goes crazy. No tatemae (the veiling of emotions) for me. This, of course, is not the Japanese way. Had I known then what I know now….
But at least readers of this who are considering AEON can get the tough questions out the way. So people who are cut out for AEON can thrive there, while people who are not cut out for AEON can avoid it. All of these things should be made explicit. |
I wasn't being presumptious...you can't complain about a certain subject; a job or otherwise if you don't give details on it. Your second post told me everything I needed to know. Sorry if I was blunt.
When you say you were prepping classes beforehand and cleaning afterwards, what specifically were you prepping and cleaning? I thought very little of this had to be done. Any documents would be on your computer and any papers or anything like that could be put in a backback or some kind of locker that stays at the school.
This is just an idea, but this could seriously reduce the "before prep time" you have. As for cleaning after, I would always tell people I volunteer to to clean after themselves. And after class/whatever to pick up any lose trash they see and throw it away. If someone dropped something or I noticed something on the floor I just tell people to pick it up. This equated to having basically nothing to clean at the end of the day. And this was in America where people are all "let's mess up everything that isn't ours(lol)" doing this in Japan would probably yield greater results I'm guessing. I wouldn't even suggest anyone try cleaning or prepping anything by themselves. It's your classroom, your the sensei, and if your a cool teacher people probably won't want to mess up your room anyway.
Another thing about the pay thing. Most jobs in America are no different, so it just seems like a needless complaint to me. I've worked jobs where I've done work outside of my job description outside of my required hours and wasn't paid a dime extra. You neither get paid more for working on busier days where your pretty much slammed all day etc. You get the same base rate as if the store/business was deserted. Some jobs give you time and a half; plenty don't. I remember going to my parent's and complaining about still making my same wages despite working my ass off at various jobs throughout high school and they looked me dead in my face and said, "Welcome to being an Adult, where the job you work at isn't about fun but how you pay bills". I could hardly probably notice the extra work I was doing in Japan if I got it, because I'm so used to doing it anyway. But that's just how I grew up. |
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rslrunner
Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Posts: 252
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| Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 4:34 am Post subject: |
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| There's nothing wrong with asking teachers to use prep time outside of working hours. Just make it clear that it will be required, especially at first. |
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move
Joined: 30 May 2009
Posts: 132
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| Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 11:04 am Post subject: |
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| still licking your wounds I see... |
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sicklyman
Joined: 02 Feb 2013
Posts: 930
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| Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 12:47 pm Post subject: |
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| rslrunner wrote: |
| There's nothing wrong with asking teachers to use prep time outside of working hours. Just make it clear that it will be required, especially at first. |
yes, I liked your first post. I liked your second even more. I think anyone coming here looking for specific info on this company will find both extremely helpful.
The statement I've quoted was interesting for me as a teacher with over 15 years EFL experience, because I don't think it's a legitimate complaint. If I was your manager, although I'd sympathise, I'd change nothing about your working environment.
I've never had a teaching job where "at first" you are working the hours stipulated in any contract you sign. THat's just life as a teacher; you have to get used to your environment, materials, students, culture and that takes time. Any teacher who goes into a job and does not expect this is simply lacking experience. It should not be something they complain to their company about because, in effect, it is a complaint about their own lack of experience.
The thing is that, given a few months or a year depending on the job, you are then able to prep much faster and end up doing less than stipulated on a contract. I don't hear many teachers with more seniority complaining that they are working 36 hours when they are contracted for 40  |
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HLJHLJ
Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 1218
Location: Ecuador
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| Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 1:39 pm Post subject: |
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| rslrunner wrote: |
Overtime, working overtime without pay: at my original interview, I was told specifically that AEON does not provide overtime. That was their stated policy as of last year.
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I've double checked this with two current AEON employees, and they both get paid overtime if they are asked to cover additional classes. Perhaps there were crossed wires somewhere when you discussed the policy with them.
| rslrunner wrote: |
The working day at AEON does provide for preparation time. However, there are other responsibilities that a teacher has to meet: evaluating new students, marketing materials, cleaning at the end of the day. As a new teacher, it would be especially important to prep before and after the regular day in order to be prepared to teach.
HLJHLJ wrote, “I wonder if the OP means they don't pay for prep time outside of allocated office hours. In which case, no they don't, but I don't know any other school that would either. In these sorts of low level jobs with specific methodologies most new starters will be putting in unpaid prep time until they find their feet.”
Yes, I meant that they don’t pay for prep time. No, most schools won’t pay for that. I’ve worked as a teacher in jobs that pay far less and I worked very hard to prepare each day outside of school hours. Which is fine, but the reality is that one has to work far more hours than is laid out beforehand. This reality should be made explicit. |
They do pay for prep time, you say so yourself. Yes, there are other things that need to be done during that time, surely that's the case in most jobs? No, a new starter won't usually get all their prep done in that time. As far as I can gather, most AEON teachers can usually get their prep done in work time, once they've got some experience under their belt and are familiar with the materials and the format.
I agree with sicklyman, this all sounds totally normal to me, I can't imagine why you would expect to have it spelled out.
| rslrunner wrote: |
Being watched: at my first interview, I noticed that whenever one was making a presentation, another AEON staffer was observing everyone else. I didn’t mind, as it was at the interview. But the same pattern occurred during the orientation, where there is one employee just observing and taking notes on everything one does. The same pattern occurs at schools based on multiple first-hand experiences, where any kind of behavior can be open to criticism. |
I've never heard AEON teachers complaining about excessive observation. If it does happen, perhaps it is an issue at individual schools.
However, this seems to be primarily based on your experience, which as I recall was just a few days at a training session, and not actually working for AEON. Of course you will be observed near constantly during an intensive week long training course, that's pretty much the point of such a course. To generalize from that to every day teaching is more than a bit of a stretch.
Most of the rest of your issues are about general Japanese working culture. It shouldn't come as a surprise to people, but apparently it still does. Sometimes it's lack of research, sometimes the donning of rose coloured glasses while doing research, no doubt there are other reasons too, but the information is widely available.
Management styles are autocratic.
For the most part, you are expected to shut up and do your job.
You will be expected to be happy and enthusiastic in class.
There are numerous other rules and regulations about etiquette both in and out of the classroom.
A timely reminder that most people working in Japan will face these issues is always helpful. Not everyone can adapt, and people thinking of coming to Japan, or going to work abroad in any country, should give that serious consideration before making the jump. |
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rslrunner
Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Posts: 252
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| Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 3:28 pm Post subject: |
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| move wrote: |
| still licking your wounds I see... |
That's part of it.
But I'm also laying out exactly what new employees must do when working for the company. There is nothing wrong with empowering people.
This is also a chance for someone from AEON to extol the positive virtues of the place. Lots of people have positive experiences with the company. If I'm the exception, and I think/hope I am, then someone can say, "Sorry it didn't work out for this guy, but here's why a job with AEON is worthwhile."
Air and light are the best disinfectants. |
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nightsintodreams
Joined: 18 May 2010
Posts: 558
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| Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 1:42 am Post subject: |
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| I've never worked at Aeon, but what's put me off ever working with them is what I've heard about the teacher's role as a salesman. Trying to persuade students to buy books they don't need etc. I don't think I could do it, lie and deceive my students like that. If the other non-teacher staff want to sell books that's fine, but for a teacher to be trying to flog his students stuff is just plain wrong. |
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HLJHLJ
Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 1218
Location: Ecuador
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| Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 9:13 am Post subject: |
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| rslrunner wrote: |
| This is also a chance for someone from AEON to extol the positive virtues of the place. Lots of people have positive experiences with the company. If I'm the exception, and I think/hope I am, then someone can say, "Sorry it didn't work out for this guy, but here's why a job with AEON is worthwhile." |
Please tell me you aren't being serious; that you aren't really expecting, even hoping, for AEON to get into a public debate with you about this here? With your history with them, and the posts you've made in the past? If you think that is desirable, or even within the realms of possibility, you have bigger issues than getting canned by AEON. |
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HLJHLJ
Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 1218
Location: Ecuador
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| Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 9:16 am Post subject: |
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| nightsintodreams wrote: |
| I've never worked at Aeon, but what's put me off ever working with them is what I've heard about the teacher's role as a salesman. Trying to persuade students to buy books they don't need etc. I don't think I could do it, lie and deceive my students like that. If the other non-teacher staff want to sell books that's fine, but for a teacher to be trying to flog his students stuff is just plain wrong. |
I agree NitD, though as far as I know teachers don't have enforced sales targets, so I don't know that there would be that much pressure on them to 'lie and deceive' their students, just to sell books. I guess it also depends on whether the materials they are pushing are actually useful. But even so, I would be very uncomfortable with being squashed into that sort of sales role. Is this something which is unique to AEON or do other schools do it? |
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