Job Discussion Forums

[Black_Beer_Man]

What do you think about the dispatch companies that hire westerners for ALT positions?

I look on Gaijinpot's website and all of these companies pay 220,000 yen ~ 250,000 yen salary a month.

The consistency of these wages almost suggests collusion. I don't see anybody breaking the 250,000 yen ceiling.

I know that some of these companies employ teachers from non-western countries such as the Philippines and India.

While I don't doubt the qualifications of these teachers, I ask myself why these dispatch companies aren't hiring teachers from western countries for these positions?

Is it because westerners think 250,000 yen a month is too low?

Is it because many of these positions are unattractive because they are in locations an hour or more away from Tokyo and other major cities?

Or is it because these companies are trying to suppress salaries by employing teachers from countries where their net monthly savings goes much further?

And what do you think of the school boards that use these dispatch companies?

From the ads I see, any one dispatch company has school board clients in several areas / prefectures. They must be making huge profits.

[mitsui]

Supply and demand.
People know wages are stagnant so some people head to other countries.
People from the Philippines aren't going anywhere, and for them, it is better than they can do back home.

Lots of Philippina teachers work at elementary schools and I wonder if they can even make 200,000 per month.

[Inflames]

Actually did hear from a friend who worked at S Gakuen (rest is up to your mind) that the manager was invited to a meeting with people from other companies to divide up contracts.

CTS is notorious for taking contracts from other companies and extending the hours for the same price.

ECC and AEON generally don't play games (any work done is at the rate in your contract - no variable hourly rates or anything).

[Black_Beer_Man]

Does anyone have any idea how much of the original amount of an ALT's salary the dispatch company pockets?

10%? 20%? 30%?

A friend of mine is a direct hire at a public school. He is paid 5500 yen per class, but that's on a part-time basis and he says that his hours have been decreasing over the years as he is seeing more and more JET teachers move into ALT positions in his schools.

[mitsui]

In Kanagawa it is Interac. The prefecture outsourced the teaching to them.
In Tokyo much work is part-time.
In Osaka I think pay got cut.

Maybe the worst was somewhere in Kyushu. A teacher made a video on Youtube about how far his money goes. I think it was put up on a union site.

[rxk22]

[scrying]

[Inflames]

In Osaka city the pay went up dramatically when they kicked out the dispatchers - 305k a month, for 12 full months a year. A friend who worked there ran up against the 3 year limit, and took a direct hire elsewhere for 240ish.

In general for haken companies, they take 30% of the fee leaving you with 70%. (the haken has to pay for insurance, transportation, holidays, plus their own staff). The real scam is insurance - it is around 9% of your salary, so if they don't pay it, they save a ton of money. (not sure about ALT dispatchers, but I assume the percentages are roughly similar).

[Black_Beer_Man]

[Shakey]

[Shakey]

[Inflames]

[Black_Beer_Man]

inflames,

Dispatch companies also send their staff to your public school to do observations which means they pick apart your lesson and tell you it was awful (when it wasn't and they probably couldn't do a much better job themselves).

This serves two purposes:

1) Keep the ALT feeling insecure so that he / she works hard and worries about keeping his / her job.

2) Shows the public school the "added value" of hiring a dispatch company to deal with the troublesome gaijin. And that the dispatch company is making sure the ALT delivers only the highest quality lessons.

In most cases, it's a scam. An ALT is not supposed to lead the lessons anyway, it's the Japanese English teacher.

The ALT should be consulting the Japanese English teacher directly for guidance - not the dispatch company. Dispatch companies are meddlesome and just complicate the situation.

Two is company, but three is a crowd applies aptly here.

[scrying]

[Shakey]

I sure hope that the wannabes back in Canada, Australia, UK and the U.S. are reading the comments left here by Black_Beer_Man, Inflames and scrying.