Job Discussion Forums

[ESLreturnee]

It's been a while for me, so I'm not sure how much of this is standard. It's a private company but a public school, so I'm just hoping to get some input and see if it's a good contract!


We are a legally qualified company in providing English training program for our clients (mostly are schools) and we are appointing a teacher, whose ID information is as below,

Name: (Dr./Ms/Mr./Mrs.) ;

Date of Birth: ;

Nationality: ;

Passport Number: ;

for the following tasks:

 School Name: ）
Location of the Campus above:

* The teacher may teach in different campuses according to the company’s assignment, whichwill take the traffic into consideration to arrange his/her school schedule.

Contract time: September 1, 2014 to July 20, 2015 ;

Probation Period: September 1, 2014 to October 1, 2014 ;

Subject: ;

Time Schedule: According to the company or the International Department’s arrangement
* The teacher’s subject and time schedule may be changed according to his/her teaching performance within the contract time, which may lead to a salary rearrangement.

Students: Secondary school students aged from 11 to 19

Teaching material: the designated textbooks or other appropriate teaching materials that after you research and communicate with

Job type: Full-time

Salary During Probation:

Salary (after tax): CNY 15300 /month;

Salary Proportion:

Basic Monthly Salary: CNY 2500 /month; Class Hours Salary: CNY 11000 /month, including 25 Classes/week, and payment for extra class hours should be calculated accordingly.
Bonus (according to the monthly working capability, with the rating criteria attached below):
CNY 1000 /month. Visa fee: 800 /month. On-campus dormitory is provided

Salary After Probation:

Salary (after tax): CNY 15300 /month;

Salary Proportion:

Basic Monthly Salary: CNY 2500 /month; Class Hours Salary: CNY 11000 /month, including 25 Classes/week, and payment for extra class hours should be calculated accordingly.
Bonus (according to the monthly working capability, with the rating criteria attached below):
CNY 1000 /month. Visa fee: 800 /month. Accommodation is provided

Summer/Winter Vacation Salary: CNY 2,500/month.

Salary conditions:

 Salary ranks according to the teacher’s teaching qualification, subject arrangement and class hours, which may lead to a termination and renegotiation of this contract;

 Salary counted from the first day at work, payment made at 10th of every month;

 If there is not a full month, the salary will be counted by proportion: monthly total amount / monthly working days * actual working days of the teacher ;

 If the summer or winter vacation is not a full month, the salary will be counted by proportion: monthly total amount / monthly working days * actual working days of the teacher + CNY2500 / monthly working days * working days of winter or summer vacation for the rest of the month.

Work Hours: 40 hours/week in weekdays

(No more than 8 hours per day, the specified office hour and class period will be arranged by the International Department within the following three time ranges: 7:50 AM to 12:10 PM, 2:10 PM to 6:00PM and 7:00 PM to 9:45PM).

Class hours: no more than 25 class hours per week; class hours are included in work hours. Payment for extra class hours should be calculated according to regular payment per class. (Regular payment per class= Class hours salary/ Class hours per week × 4)

Extra hour of work:

Condition: working during weekends if the company or school requires, e.g.: international program promotional activities, and admission exam interviews, etc.

Extra hour payment:

RMB200/hour if equal to or less than 2 hours;

RMB500/half day for one morning or one afternoon （4 hours);

RMB1,000/day (6 to 8 hours)

Bonus:
 Conditional Monthly Performance Bonus
(Performance will be evaluated by the supervisors of the foreign academic program and mostly the students’ feedback will be taken into consideration, the ratings are exchanged by score ranges.)

Bonus Amount
Evaluation Content
Rating Proportion

Relevant Amount

CNY 1,000

Working Performance
50% CNY 500
Student Feedback
30% CNY 300
Supervisor Evaluation
20% CNY 200

Round-Trip Flight Tickets and Visa Related Fee: Provided (as actual cost reimbursement)

 For work visa or Chinese Residence Permit application candidates ( ): with a limit of no more than RMB8,000/year, combining the round-trip flight tickets, health check fare for work visa application purpose, visa fee and Chinese Residence Permit application fee.

 For teacher who does not qualify for work visa application due to his/her teaching experience and educational qualification,, will consider to issue business invitation letter to the teacher for a one year multiple entries business visa application. For business visa application candidates, the reimbursement of round-trip flight tickets and visa fee is with a limit of no more than RMB 8,000/year;

 The total amount of reimbursement will be divided into 10 months to be paid with the monthly salary;

 For teachers who hold neither work visa nor business visa, will not reimburse any visa application related cost.

Social Insurance and Medical Insurance: Provided for work visa sponsored employees only, which will be paid out of his/her salary payment.

Housing Allowance:
provides on-campus dormitory.

Holidays, Personal Leaves and Sick Leaves:
1) Holidays: Paid and for Chinese public holidays only, which may require the teacher to make up classes by following the school’s public holiday school schedule arrangement;
2) Personal Leave: Unpaid and required to obtain consent. The teacher need to make sure his/her classes are rescheduled or rearranged before leave. If the teacher needs to go home for visa application, he/she should apply for personal leaves, which are unpaid.
3) Sick Leave: Paid as 60%, and be required to make up any missing classes once back to work. During the sick leave, if the teacher does not have any class, he or she will be paid by the basic salary , which is 2,500 RMB per month，until the end of the contract date. For teachers holding work visa and with Guangzhou Social Insurance purchased, if he/she injuries at work, all relevant expenditure should be paid by Social Insurance Fund.


Notice:
Be prepared for the following documents: copy of passport, copy of visa, copy of educational certificate, copy of teaching qualification certificate, copy of reference letter (if any), and health check certificate by the local hospital; also a bank account (CMBC only) is needed.

Company Responsibilities:

Appoint the teacher’s job responsibilities and arranges the teacher’s time schedule;

 Coordinate all the work related to the teacher’s work in the school;

 Provide job orientation/instruction and teaching training;

l Supervise the teacher’s classes in order to provide feedback or information to help the teacher improve class quality if it is necessary;

l Make the payment on tenth of every month on time;

l Ensure and secure proper visa, and reimburse the related cost of work visa or business visa application as listed above in this contract;

l Provide necessary help with the teacher’s living on campus.


Your Responsibilities:

 Present in school office during work hours apart from class hours;

 Commit teaching classes in the specified time period according to the company’s arrangement or rearrangement within contract time;

 Cancellation of class or change of class schedule: for any reason the teacher cannot go to classes, he/she should inform both the school and company at least 2 days in advance; he/she should obtain consent before leave, and make sure the classes are rescheduled or rearranged;

 Absence without notice or consent: if the teacher is absent without giving notice as required or without obtaining consent in advance, then RMB 300 will be charged as a donation to the Employee Amusement Fund with criticism posted for each class.


 Be punctual; Certain amount of money will be charged as a donation to the Employee Amusement Fund if the teacher is late for class: RMB20 will be charged if being late for 5-10 minutes, RMB80 will be charged if being late for 10-20 minutes, RMB150 will be charged if being late for 20-30 minutes, RMB300 will be charged if being late for over 30 minutes; ( If the teacher is late for 10 classes in one month, the company has the right to fire the teacher.)

 Follow the school’s requirement and curriculum in teaching the designated subject, do not change any required teaching material or content;

 Formulate and carry out the teaching plan;

 Do necessary research and planning to be well prepared for each class, keep the lesson planning material or record for inspection and evaluation;

 Grade students’ homework, exam papers and essays, give students feedback on time;

 Keep the classes attractive, interact with students and encourage their involvement;

 Improve class quality when given feedback from the students or performance evaluation from the International Department supervisor;

 Keep a work day/hour record or classroom journal (the evidence of payment claim);

 Participate in student events if required;

 Attend teaching staff meeting on a weekly basis;

 Attend teacher training session on a weekly basis;

 Attend parents meeting if required;

 Participate in teaching staff team project or team building events;

 Keep the teaching materials in good condition; return those upon course completion;

 Keep communication with both the school and company., make sure to deliver quality classes;

Other Notices: (In campus)

 No alcohol, No smoking;

 No showing tattoos;

 Casual wear but no sandals, no shirts without sleeves;

 Be aware of the following sensitive issues and try to avoid mentioning them in campus: politics, religion, sex, violence and any issue that is considered negative to Chinese culture;

 When teaching in one campus, avoid mentioning teaching affairs, teaching schedule or teaching arrangement, students’ affairs about other campuses, which may lead to misunderstanding among the students, the schools.

 No physical punishment.

 During working hours, part-time jobs in any institutions are not allowed. If the teacher wants to do part-time job at non-working hours, he/she must first apply for permission. Besides, teacher is not allowed to recommend training institutions outside school to our students. Once such violation is found, the teacher should bear related responsibility.


Remarks

 This contract takes effect on the date signed by both parties and will automatically expire when the contract concludes.

 Termination of this agreement:

 For employee: 30 days official notification of resignation in advance is required; The employee can only resign when both parties reach an agreement, which should be approved by the responsible person of company. in the school with all relevant work taken over completely. Otherwise the related salary will not be paid for by the company. If the teacher resigns within two weeks’ time, the relevant amount will not be paid for by the company.

 For employer: For employee that cannot fulfill his/her job responsibilities, company entitles the right of dismissal. Two weeks’ notice in advance will be given to the employee, it should be made by official dismissal letter with compensation or remedy agreement made by two parties and company seal;

 The two parties shall consult with each other and mediate any dispute, which may arise about the contract.

 This contract is completely confidential; both parties should not reveal any information to a third party.


Employer signature: Teacher signature:

Date: Date:

[LarssonCrew]

Few points:

15300 for 40 hours a week is dire, that's what?95 per hour?

I scanned quickly, saw no mention of housing?

The overtime makes no sense, 200 RMB per hour for 2 hours but only 500 for 4 hours?!

So 400 for 2 hours but double that only gets you another 100 RMB?

The salary during the holidays is DIRE, 2500 is nothing.

They could split schedule you: 750 - 12:10 then 7-9:45)

[davelister]

[Big Worm]

[ESLreturnee]

And this is why I ask! I'd love to know how everyone seems to be getting better pay than 15K. All the ads I see are for 8-10K, so I jump on the higher ones. Even the 12K ones are asking for office hours. I'd rather have full pay on holidays, but I haven't even seen that with most schools. When I do the math, though, it's pretty much the same salary as I make now.

Going to see what they say back with all my questions. If there's common ground to be had, we'll see.

Still looking for input everyone. Keep commenting!

Wait, where's the 15 month part? I see less than a year...

[vikeologist]

There's definitely a lot of strange / different / unusual things in the contract.

Being appraised on student feedback is extremely problematic.

I appreciate that perhaps the school has been burned in the past, and they just want to ensure that they get a good employee, but contracts are just not the way to do that.

I wish I had time to go through all the reasons why you should not even consider this for a second, (or at the very least have long discussions with multiple current employees).

But I think that davelister started off with the most important point. if they're not allowed to employ foreigners, you would be an illegal worker in China, and that is not a good thing.

There are a lot of nightmare jobs in China. You might think that all schools / employees have to treat foreign teachers at least relatively fairly, but they don't.

This sets off multiple alarms for me.

[Big Worm]

It is 9 month, my bad. It was early. Also, nine months blows. No summer pay.


It's not that everyone gets over 15k, although many do. It's that this contract is meant to mislead you. They probably say "up to 15+, but if they don't have the hours from schools to farm you out to, you could be making nothing.

You basically don't want a contract where your rmb is dependent on whether or not they have students. Your job is to teach, theirs it so get student bums into student chairs.

Also, as someone said, you don't want to be evaluated by your students...at least not solely by them. Students don't know anything, that's why they are students. Most will want to do as little as possible and basically just dork around on phones and play games. If you actually tell them to do something that will make them learn something, they might hate you. Suddenly you are a bad teacher for giving them a word list to memorize. I mean, think about it...do you really want your job to depend on the moods the of a bunch of 15 year olds?

[Babala]

The contract is not good and there is way too many shady clauses in it.

Many of the posters here have been here a while. You tend to get higher salary jobs when you are able to network a bit. I've been here for 14 years now and the average teachers I know do NOT make 15,000 yuan a month. Don't believe everything you read.

A few wise posters always say it's about the whole package and that's true. Look at everything the school is offering such as housing, medical etc...

I do get over 15,000 yuan a month now but next year I've taken a job for considerably less but I've into consideration that I'm moving to a province that the cost of living is much cheaper and I have everything included.

[Bud Powell]

I second everything said. Particularly ominous is this clause:

For employer: For employee that cannot fulfill his/her job responsibilities, company entitles the right of dismissal.

This is tantamount to ownership of the employee. This is common in Chinese contracts for Chinese employees. If it's suspected that you have another job lined up, the school will hold you to your contract until the position at the other school is filled. Worse, if the company can hire comeone cheaper, you will suddenly become incompetent.

My advice: Run. Save yourself while there's still time.

[thebroformerlyknownaschou]