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Bialonoz
Joined: 27 Sep 2005
Posts: 57
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 Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 5:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Alex Shulgin wrote: |
There's been a price war for the last five or six years in Warsaw. You should know that! Point is that there is still demand for professional teachers and schools which charge too little can only pay peanuts, which means they eventually employ only monkeys............................
I'm sure that this price war will eventually work out in the favour of the professional teachers and schools... |
The price war only seems to intensify, and companies are looking more and more at the bottom line when choosing a language school. People who are paying for lessons from their own pocket have also found that their wages have not risen - in fact management salaries are falling somewhat here.
It would be lovely if people appreciated quality over quantity - my husand's had to go to to France for 3 months to make some decent money, but excuse me if I'm sceptical. |
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cezarek
Joined: 29 Aug 2005
Posts: 149
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| Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 10:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Bialonoz wrote: |
The price war only seems to intensify, and companies are looking more and more at the bottom line when choosing a language school. People who are paying for lessons from their own pocket have also found that their wages have not risen - in fact management salaries are falling somewhat here.
It would be lovely if people appreciated quality over quantity - my husand's had to go to to France for 3 months to make some decent money, but excuse me if I'm sceptical. |
The prices are certainly getting lower. A school I used to work for felt they were selling it cheap if they got 150pln per 45. I saw the table of prices for EF in-company lessons recently. They charge 70 per 45 for in-company native Speaker lessons in Warsaw. If they pay 50 gross (and I doubt they do) that leaves 20 per 45 out of which must come a proportion of the office rent, admin staff wages, copier rent, phone bills, electric, internet connection, advertising and sales costs [huge, sometimes], audit fees, transport costs, a whole host of other tiresome things. And then they're taxed on what little is left from each invoice. What's left after that is profit, but I for one can't do the maths here. Something has to go, and it isn't the electricity bill. I suspect it's unfortunately the wage levels.
Quality will always prevail, but when it becomes harder and harder to survive, despair can prevail too. Some school owners are honest - they often struggle to make a good living. Some are rip-off merchants. They're the ones with the fast buck.
Gossip, I know, but a (well known and internationally respected) Warsaw school (not EF) has just asked its full time teachers to accept a pay cut, on the grounds that they have a deficit in the accounts of about 20k. (Nothing really - but could be used to scare some teacher, green and fresh off the boat.) If you set that annual shortfall next to the school owners' annual wages (plus in their case the franchise fees) - it isn't a deficit at all, but a slightly reduced profit. The pay-cut is simply a pretext for the school to pay the teachers less.
Now a knock on effect of this, is that now the school can compete by offering lower prices (and they already undercut people). This can cause a horrible snowball effect.
Those of us who live here, and enjoy earning a good salary for good work can easily be victims of this.
Any suggestions what can be done? |
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Alex Shulgin
Joined: 20 Jul 2003
Posts: 553
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| Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2006 5:16 pm Post subject: |
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| cezarek wrote: |
| The prices are certainly getting lower. A school I used to work for felt they were selling it cheap if they got 150pln per 45. I saw the table of prices for EF in-company lessons recently. They charge 70 per 45 for in-company native Speaker lessons in Warsaw. If they pay 50 gross (and I doubt they do) that leaves 20 per 45 out of which must come a proportion of the office rent, admin staff wages, copier rent, phone bills, electric, internet connection, advertising and sales costs [huge, sometimes], audit fees, transport costs, a whole host of other tiresome things. And then they're taxed on what little is left from each invoice. What's left after that is profit, but I for one can't do the maths here. Something has to go, and it isn't the electricity bill. I suspect it's unfortunately the wage levels. |
I very much doubt that they pay 50 gross. I remember that when EF first opened eight years ago they paid US$1000 net for a full-time (36 classes of 40 minutes each) position. Then six years ago that was cut to $900 per month. That is what it still was last time I heard. I can find out exactly how much they pay if anybody really wants to know.
This may explain why EF doesn't attract quality teachers and why it doesn't keep the ones that it does attract!
| cezarek wrote: |
| Quality will always prevail, but when it becomes harder and harder to survive, despair can prevail too. Some school owners are honest - they often struggle to make a good living. Some are rip-off merchants. They're the ones with the fast buck. |
The rip-off merchants are making a fast buck but only for now. An honest school owner can make money for many years. Look at two schools which used to be rivals: Target and Lang. Lang has just got bigger and bigger, more students means the owner is making more money. Target imploded and the people who are there now have a real fight on their hands to undo the damage done by a former Target man. (Please note that I am most certainly not stating that Target are rip-off merchants now or that they have been at any time since a well known figure left them)
| cezarek wrote: |
| Gossip, I know, but a (well known and internationally respected) Warsaw school (not EF) has just asked its full time teachers to accept a pay cut, on the grounds that they have a deficit in the accounts of about 20k. (Nothing really - but could be used to scare some teacher, green and fresh off the boat.) If you set that annual shortfall next to the school owners' annual wages (plus in their case the franchise fees) - it isn't a deficit at all, but a slightly reduced profit. The pay-cut is simply a pretext for the school to pay the teachers less. |
Well at least schools know who to recruit for any gaps they need filling for next year!
I would very much hope that the teachers refuse this 'offer'. And that they also contact the head office to let them know what damage is being done to the very very good name of the organisation. That organisation has in the past shown that it will take the name away from schools which damage its good name. Perhaps this will happen here.
| cezarek wrote: |
| Any suggestions what can be done? |
Think long term and smaller scale. There is still money to be earned in Warsaw. You won't make a fortune but if you work hard and are professional then you can make enough to have comfortable life. |
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