Job Discussion Forums

[homersimpson]

I recently informed my BOE that I wanted to return for another year (per the BOE's repeated requests I may add), but had a significant problem with Interac's "policy" of not honoring signed contracts (notably, violating federal law regarding payment of salary). I wasn't looking to cause trouble, just wanted the City to know that I love my job and want to stay, but preferably not for a company with such unethical business practices. Now, I didn't expect the City to roll out the red carpet, but the only reaction was minimal disappointment. I "can't" be hired directly be the City, which feels, get this, "morally obligated" to continue the relationship with Interac because they "provided us with such a good teacher." So, I suppose the theory is, that if I leave Interac will simply hire someone equally good or better. But, I would think that's a gamble the City wouldn't want to take. Any thoughts?

[Spiderman]

The principal of the school where you've taught might like you enough so that he'll request your return for the next year. He can put in a good word for you with the BOE. But, he has no control over the contracts that the BOE signs with the likes of INTERAC. You've stated your case to the powers that be.

In a nutshell, they really don't give a rat's ass. You are just another warm body to them which INTERAC provides more cheaply than anyone else. Remember that the BOE embraces a policy of assigning a number to each student. The student is known as that 'number' throughout the schoolyear. Pretty degrading by western standards.

If you are really serious about the situation in terms of bringing about change, consider cultivating some contacts with the local Japanese media who might be willing to expose this evil being perpetrated by INTERAC vis a vis the BOE. Maybe some exposure on the Japanese side will draw attention to this brutal system of injustice.

[Mike L.]

The previous poster has it figured out. The simple truth about dispatching companies like Interac, hakengaisha in Japanese I think, is that they make things easier for Japanese employers to deal with gaijin. I know, I work for one of these companies.

For example, you can be gotten rid of very quickly if there was ever a problem. Or no problem at all for that matter. This is perhaps the most justifiable. Some dirrect hires stay too long ago at a private school. Some were hired 10 years ago when there were few standards, ie qualifications etc, and do almost no work knowing full well they can't be gotten rid of easily. Some are very strange and marry ex students. I've seen a few examples of this. In private schools, dispatching companies protect the schools from getting stuck with real losers.

They can complain to the company very easily about you behind your back if there is a problem. And of course, unlike CLAIR (the government ministry in charge of JET) your point of view will carry no weight. Essentially keeping you under control. I was on JET for 3 years. Built up a good rep with the teachers, contrary to popular belief did a lot of decent teaching and had a small but growing influence based on senority and connections. The BOE rightfully regretted this when they attempted to abbrogate the contract yours truely defeated them quite soundly, they had to back off, by calling a government agency succwessfully making my oints to ameniable people in the BOE itself. As an Interac employee you couldn't do this. ALTs on JET are pretty much impossible to get rid of

Perhaps most importantly the greatest reason companies like Interac exist is that employers don't have to deal dirrectly with the gaijin. "Oh no we have to talk to a gaijin!" Even if said gaijin speaks Japanese. It's amazing how much money they will pay for this paltry service. Currently, in my company,I've heard they will pay almost 3 X my hourly salary for this service. Parasites!

Don't be bitter about it. It's a businees plain and simple. Just use Interac as a stepping stone. Find a better job. Try to get a dirrect hire if you can.

Good luck!

[klute]

Mike L.'s penultimate paragraph is, unfortunately, spot on. The Japanese would rather just not deal with foreigners and pay companies like Interac to do all the dirty work i.e. firing.

However those currently in outsource ALT jobs, and who would prefer to be hired directly by the Board of Education (BOE), may like to consider this. Interac and other like companies are breaking social insurance laws if they do not enroll their teachers in the Japanese social insurance program. All full-time employees (and many part-time ones) are required to be enrolled in the Employees' Health Insurance (EHI) - in Japanese, Shakai Hoken aka Shakai Kenku Hoken or Kenko Hoken - scheme by the company they work for. Under the Japanese social insurance system, those who become insured persons under Employees' Health Insurance simultaneously have to join Employees' Pension Insurance (EPI). Essentially the Employees' Health Insurance scheme takes care of the medical side of social insurance, while the Employees' Pension Insurance takes care of the pension benefits. Being enrolled is not a voluntary thing; it's the law. There are some exceptions, the most relevant to eikawa�s being that you are required to have working hours and days in excess of 3/4 of those of the average employee. This essentially means 30 hours per week as 40 hours per week is considered a full working week in Japan. In the past Interac have got round this by saying their teachers teach less than 30 hours per week. This is true. Very few teachers actually teach more than 30 hours per week. However they do WORK more than 30 hours a week and work means preparation hours and administration hours. Interac's own website on ALT work confirms this. A more comprehensive view of the details of the Employees' Health Insurance scheme can be seen at this URL:

http://www5.justnet.ne.jp/~tsudax99/handbook_english/handbook_e_09healthinsurance.htm

This is not a legal position, just an explanation. If you want the legal side of it go to the Social Insurance agency � no English website unfortunately, however they do have brochures in English and various other languages explaining the situation. Also there are various other resources available from different perspectives

Tokyo Metropolitan Government on health:
http://www.metro.tokyo.jp/ENGLISH/LIVINGIN/contents5_1.htm

Tokyo Metropolitan Government on pensions:
http://www.metro.tokyo.jp/ENGLISH/LIVINGIN/contents8.htm

Jet program statutory social insurance requirements:
http://www.jetprogramme.org/e/current/news/issue_24/02_2.html

Chiyoda PAA accounting office
http://www.cpaa.co.jp/622.htm

Freshfields Law office
http://www.freshfields.com/places/asia/publications/pdfs/EmploymentandBenefitsinJapanApril2002.pdf

OK, so Interac is breaking the law. What can you do? Immediately go to your local Social Insurance office with:

- your contract to show how many hours you work.
- a printout of the Interac website�s ALT job description page to confirm, in Interac's own words, your working hours. See URL:
http://www.interac.co.jp/recruit/AboutTeaching.html#HOURS&BENEFITS
- a helpful Japanese friend (i.e. translator)

Ask the Social Insurance office to explain your pension situation/entitlements. They will probably ask you for your Nenkin Techo (pension book). As Interac haven�t put you in the pension scheme you will say you haven�t got one. They will be suitably bemused and mention that this is "unusual" or some such similar epithet. What happens next very much depends on the Social Insurance office you are in. Some will get angry that Interac are flouting the law and investigate, others will faff around and do nothing. In the end even with an aggressive Social Insurance office, Interac will probably just refuse to obey the law. The legal punitive measures are nowhere near as much as the cost of stumping up the legal requirement for the EHI and EPI. However don�t get disheartened as all this effort establishes an official record for you to refer to at a later date. Put as much detail on paper as you can and give it to Social Insurance people. Get as much from them on paper as you can - create a paper trail.

When all this is done go to your BOE and ask them if they are aware that the company (Interac) they are making contracts with does not adhere to social insurance laws. If the BOE does not believe this, give them a photocopy of your Interac paysheet (doing this will also let the BOE know, on paper, how little out-source ALT teachers actually get, compared with the amount they give Interac for taking care of their outsourcing). This paysheet has no details of health, pension or unemployment contributions � another issue in itself - as Interac don�t make them. The BOE will probably say they "don�t know about this situation" or "it�s not their concern as Interac hire you". Let them know you have been to the Social Insurance office and that the Social Insurance office officials may have to come to your school to investigate the matter. That'll real put a bug up their arse. You can also point out that ALT�s employed under the JET program are all fully covered by social insurance program as essentially, via CLAIR, they are employed by the government who obviously cannot get away with flagrant law breaking.

The "moral obligation" mentioned by Homersimpson in the above posting above cuts both ways for the BOE. The ethical standards requirements introduced in 2002 for government organizations, and those that operate under the auspices of government organizations, means that the moral obligation the BOE has to the law is certainly greater than to Interac. It also means that it is not so easy for government organizations to ignore ethical concerns. Certainly having one group of ALTs (JET) covered by social insurance and another group of ALTs (out-source i.e. Interac) not covered by social insurance is the kind of thing that makes very bad press. And of course it is illegal.


A couple of extra things:

-You don�t have to wait until the end of your contract to do this. Go in anytime. The good thing about working as an out-source ALT is that Interac cannot easily withdraw (fire) you within the term of the contract as the BOE get upset when this happens.

- Some people believe that it is not economically viable to pay into the social insurance system � the Employees' Health Insurance scheme is not the greatest or cheapest health insurance around (true) and the Employees' Pension Insurance contributions disappear (not true). Eikawas often bring this up as reason for not paying into them, even going so far as to try to convince their employees that "it�s a bad thing to do as you will lose money" This in itself should alert the more astute person that there is something wrong. At first it may look like you are losing money but essentially your Employees' Pension Insurance contributions are refunded if you are here for three years or less and that covers most eikawa teachers in Japan. There�s plenty of information on this at the sites listed above.

Anyway all this is academic. The law is requires your company to enroll their teachers in the social insurance program. It�s an obligation not a choice. If ALT teachers are serious about being directly employed this is certainly one route open to them. If enough out-source ALTs raise a stink through official channels it could improve their chances of being hired directly - better than 230,000 a month surely, the lowest salary Interac offered for an ALT post recently.

[As Das Fads]

Thanks for the lengthy post. Yes Interac are scumbags.

Anyway I just wanted to let you know that when I was hired (last year) some of my fellow hirees were only being paid 220,000 yen per month. I know the new recruits also have no completion bonuses in their contract.

The BOEs, while generally staffed with nice people, could give less than a toss about the employment conditions of the ALTs. As you mentioned, its only when the ALTs up and leave before the end of their contracts that they get moderately interested in Interac/us.

Yes I am still with Interac, but with my home currency climbing rapidly against the yen I probably won't last out my new contract. Japan is great, I don't want to leave, but shoganai, ne?

[Glenski]

This may be a silly question, but why go through the BOE or Interact at all? If you have a contact at the school where you used to work, lay out your misgivings with Interac's operation, and make a proposal to have the school hire you directly. They may balk at first because of various things (insurance, taxes, whatever), but they might see it as the best course of action if you are really the person they want (back).

If they don't go for this plan, I don't see any reason to worry. There are plenty of jobs in Japan for the qualified. Just move on.

By the way, in my opinion, confronting the authorities over Interac's alleged violations will get you nowhere. They are not the only school/company that gets around these regulations/laws.

[Sunpower]

[Glenski]

Sunpower,
I've read that type of complaint before from a person who posted his own web site to complain about Interac. I never got an answer to my reply.

My reply is this. Places like Interac have overhead costs. Before complaining about how much they take out of the clients' fees, do you know what those overhead costs are? Off the top of my head, I imagine things like administration fees, travel reimbursement, teacher housing allowance, insurance premiums, etc.

For in-house operations like most eikaiwas, there are also overhead costs, such as those I have mentioned, plus building costs (lighting, heating, taxes, etc.).

What is your take on this?

[Sherri]

Sunpower wrote:
"The disparity between what the agency/school takes and what the actual teacher earns is enough to make me sick.

And companies are paying it.

I have no idea why, as they could find teachers, you'd think fairly easily and for much less money."

I agree with what Glenski wrote. Also may I add, it is NOT easy for these companies to find good teachers. They do not want to take the time and trouble to interview teachers, prepare contracts, deal with immigration, late teachers, absent teachers, etc. On top of that, they are not prepared to take responsibility for the level checks, needs analysis, curriculum and the evaluation of their employees' progress.

It is for these services that the companies pay. I am not saying that places like INTERAC and the like provide "good" services but they are very good at packaging and selling them.

[klute]

Sunpower - The fact that Interac take a slice of the action does not make them a �rotten� company per se. Obviously taking an agent�s fee is a standard business practice and if the BOE are willing to pay Interac twice as much for an outsource teacher as a directly hired one, good luck to them. If anyone is to blame for the situation it is the BOE, who are wasting taxpayers money by paying too much.

However, Glenski, I wouldn�t feel too sorry for Interac on their overhead costs "things like administration fees, travel reimbursement, teacher housing allowance, insurance premiums, etc". There are very little administration fees and travel costs for ALT teachers as they are not really in-house. Interac do not pay a housing allowance and if you had been paying a bit more attention above you would have seen that insurance payments are definitely not on Interac�s overhead cost list, even though they should be.

Glenski your point about Interac not being "the only school/company that gets around these regulations/laws" is true, however that is no excuse for law-breaking, either for Interac or the BOE. My words above were mainly about Interac as the initial posting was about Interac, but as I mentioned at the beginning of my post, other companies also fail to meet their legal obligations and they too should be targeted.

One thing is for sure. If an outsource ALT teacher does nothing I can absolutely 100% guarantee that they will "get nowhere" to use your term. But, for the reasons I pointed out above, if they act their chances increase considerably. You decide which is the better option.

[Mike L.]

Good to see lots of valid points on this one

I'll try to add more.


As to the overhead costs these "haken Gaisha" dispatching companies (Interac, Westgate, Sagan Speak, etc) have I would say they are often not as high as one might think.

Mine has no housing allowance, private health insurance plan, pays no airfare (won't hire from outside the country) and only pays transport fees when it has too. As often these fees are worked into the fees they charge the client. Some clients will even include the teacher in the annual physical too.

As many of these companies employ many part timers they don't need to offer as much in they way of benefits as say a larger company.

Interac's size though would make them liable for expenses but as we've seen there are ways around this.

The rent on our dinky little office in a has been section of Tokyo comes quite cheap as the vacancy rate has skyrocketed in the last few years due to bankruptcies and newer mega office complexes like Marunouchi building taking all the high flying tennants away.

There is desperation in the commercial office rental market. Deposites are being halved, rents are dropping etc. Offices can be moved to cheaper parts of town too.

Staff is of course an unescapable cost but if contracts are lost staff can be dispensed with too.

There are fixed costs but they can be cut along with declining revenue. Not a good situation but I haven't heard of any large English teacher dispatching companies going bankrupt lately. Though they are suffering.

It, the dispatching business, is still a viable good business.

As to finding "good teachers", with experience and or qualifcations, no shortage of those in Japan.

Lot's of teachers already here for the long term.

Reasonable pay and lots of payed holidays and/or a light schedule can usually draw them in. Though Interac with it's 220,000 yen a month is pushing it.

Also keep in mind that lots of people are married, been in Japan for years and thus are low maitenance pretty much looking after themselves. They won't need guarators for apartments, staff to help with the visa much as they know the system.

Also want to comment on the ALT visa-vie the BOE situation. As a former ALT, my supervisor let it slip over drinks, that almost 50% of our Jet sallaries were subsidezed by the national government. Not sure if it's the same throughout the program.

The only reason that Interac exists is probably the fact that the JET program is remaining relatively stable in nubmbers (about 6,000 ALTs) but the demand for an ALT has continued to rise. JETs come cheap, but there's a limited supply. Of course the "Oh no we have to deal with a gaijin" thing is a reality too.

Though the recession is changing this in other areas too.

Some cites that used to have their own sister city programs whereby ALTs were brought from (without subsides I imagine) have discontinued the practice and started to use companies like Interac.

I always wondered if Interac was late in paying sallaries because it would offer the lowest possible price and probably do anything to get a contract.

This situation may not be great but I will agree with Glenski. I doubt any confrontation tactics will succeed.

However, on a brighter note the collapse of such companies in poor econmic conditions, or loss of a contract, could be a golden apple as an aspiring teacher could deal dirrectly with the school.

Know of one school that started doing exactly this after "cutting out the middle man."

It should be interesting to see what happens in the next few years with this situation.

[/b]

[Sunpower]

Glenski:

I hear what you're saying. I should have made reference to that in my post.

For my corporate classes in Tokyo, I was always paid for transportation. I was never given any kind of housing allowance.

The corporate classes I'm doing in Taipei don't pay a travel allowance nor a housing subsidy.

Overall, from what I've been able to see, the sales/management people seem to have very little to no contact with the clients after the contract starts. This is especially true if the client is satisfied with the instructor.

So, in Tokyo, I don't know where that Y8,000 is going from the original Y12,000 that the client pays for a 1 hour English lesson?

I'd be interested in one day talking to someone who knows more about this. As far as overhead goes, I am not too sure what costs are invovled and if I did ask, I probably wouldn't be given a very clear answer. Mangement in these kinds of companies don't really like discussing these issues with teachers. They like to keep them dumb it seems.

Your thinking re the overhead costs in language schools is more likely - I agree with you on that.

[Spiderman]

Does it make any sense to have Japanese complain to their elected politicians about this corruption between BOE and INTERAC? What would the response be from the politicians I'd be curious to hear about it.

How 'bout you folks out there with Japanese spouses? Tell your spouses to get on the phone and do some complaining about how your tax dollars are being pissed away

[G Cthulhu]