Job Discussion Forums

[Beijinger74]

I worked at Disney English as an FT for less than a year

I cannot think of a single positive thing to say about my experience at Disney English except that I got to see China.

1. Management is horrible. They force you to lie to parents all the time. They force you to work overtime without compensation despite the wording of your contract. If you complain about anything, you will be targeted for elimination. To paint a picture, I worked in a center in Beijing for about 6 months, there were about 30 employees and in that time I saw 25 employees come and go, some working just a few weeks, including the center manager, teachers, learning partners etc. I have never seen such high turnover; a direct result of the poor treatment of the employees.

2. Schedule is erratic and annoying: Sometime you have to get up at 6am sometimes later, sometimes you work 12 hour days, sometimes you don't. You never adjust and you can't hang out with people with normal schedules so you are forced to hang out with your co-workers.

3. They use a lot of non-native speakers as teachers. Now, I don't necessarily think that is a bad thing but the fact of the matter is Disney English prefers native speakers, but thanks to their plummeting reputation they cannot find native speakers willing to work there.,

4. Healthcare. They force you to use lower quality clinics. There was a very nice clinic in Beijing that provided great service and even waived the co-pay. When Disney English found out, they forbade us from going there. This was especially a probably because the center I worked at was filthy with zero ventilation. I have no allergies but whenever I entered the center I felt like I had a cold. I was sick all the time and was forced to go to crappy clinics that did not speak English.

5. They constantly lie to you. For example, they make it sound like you can only have 5 paid sicks days per contract. Under the law in China, if you are sick and have a note, you get paid period. Granted the pay is prorated at 60% after around 2 weeks of sick leave.

After about a month I learned to interpret the pointless staff meetings, e.g. The water dispenser is broken but we will get it fixed soon. (We are broke and cutting costs, so no more water.)

6. This company is going down the drain. In the six months that I spent there, 5 centers closed just in the Beijing area.

If you go to work for Disney English, you will most likely regret it. Of the many teachers I met in Beijing only one actually enjoyed her job.

I have grave doubts about the validity of the positive reviews you can read about this company.

Get your act together DE. You have a great product but waste its potential by focusing on sales instead of education and treating your employees horribly. Stop subjecting your employees and learners to dangerously poor center conditions.

[newmansone]

You shouldn't have signed the contract then.

[Beijinger74]

If I had know how they treat their employees, I would not have signed the contract. Hence my post: a fair warning for anyone considering working for Disney English.

[The_Kong]

[Alien abductee]

[talentedcrayon]

[Beijinger74]

Talentedcrayon hit the nail on the head.

I would add that they take advantage of the teachers' situation in China. That is, you cannot just quit and go get a better job, legally anyway. You need a release letter, change your visa blah blah.

You have the sense that your job is your only lifeline. Quiting or getting fired means forfeiting all the money you invested in getting to China and renting an aparment (usually 3-4 months of rent in fees and deposits in Beijing) and finding your way back home.

Disney English also teaches their managers how to respond to certain questions from parents or teachers, eg if you complain about unpaid overtime they will start talking about teamwork, don't you want to be a team player your co-workers are depending on you etc.

Finally, I would add that, not to pick on my fellow teachers, but in my center there were two types of teachers. Middle-aged native speakers who had not worked in a long time and had debts (mortages) they were desperate to pay and people from the Philippines who were now making 5 times more than they ever did back home; two types that are probably willing to put up with a ton more of crap than others.

[talentedcrayon]

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

How did you escape?

[wangdaning]

Micky Moused of course with a side of billy the kid.

[RW8677]

[asiannationmc]

[Beijinger74]

RW867: The lies varied from things like if your LP quit, you had to tell the parents that the LP was on sick leave and keep telling them that until hopefully they forgot about the LP.

To bigger things, for example, one time a 9-year-old learner disappeared from the center for 25 minutes, turns out he just walked out the door, walked around the mall doing who knows what, then returned when he felt like it.

I notified my supervisor and offered the opinion that we should notified his parents of the event. He told me we would tell the parents that the student walked out of the classroom but remained in the center. I felt this was dishonest but he told me that my confidentiality agreement meant that if I told the parents what reaaly happened I would be fired and sued under Chinese law.

The management is a mix of Chinese and foreign staff, the exact ratio varied as the managment staff passed through the revolving door of Disney English.

Of course no one can actually force anyone to do anything but they can threaten negative consequences if you do not do what you are told, which is what Disney English does.

[Beijinger74]

Asiannationmc:

I just read your link and could not help but smile.

The same thing happened to me. The air quality in my center was horrible. On a good day you felt like you had a cold, on bad days you felt like you were going to throw up. When I complained they said the exact same thing "The air in Beijing is very polluted outside."

Imagine trying to explain to someone that just because the air outside is bad does not mean that you want the air inside to be even worse.

Obiviously Disney English has been facing the same complaints but refuses to solve the problems.

[oneiros]

This is the first time I've ever heard of unpaid overtime at DE. Can you provide more details?