Job Discussion Forums

[stabnkill]

GlobeNet is probably one of the worst and most exploitative recruiters working today in Oman. List of offences:

1. Teachers working for GlobeNet are paid approximately 100 rials less per month than teachers (at the same colleges and with identical jobs and qualifications) working for other recruiters. Also, whereas other recruiters provide housing, GlobeNet does not. GlobeNet owns some flats and rents them to its teachers from 200- 300 rials a month for a one bedroom flat. So, in essence, GlobeNet is making 300-400 hundred rials per teacher, per month in addition to whatever they are paid by the ministry. To repeat, GlobeNet pays approximately 100 rials less and does not provide housing (200-300 rial value). GlobeNet instead pockets this money.

2. If new teachers are not interested in taking a GlobeNet apartment (300 rials for a one bedroom flat furnished with used furniture, as of September 2008), GlobeNet does not offer them any assistance (even information) in securing another apartment.

3. The apartments that GlobeNet offers to its teachers are in extremely bad repair and in order to get basic maintenance service, teachers have to telephone GlobeNet repeatedly and must deal with rude and unhelpful staff. Since rent is taken directly from the teacher�s salary, there is no way to do one�s own maintenance and subtract it from the rent.

4. GlobeNet is planning to raise the (already inflated) rent on teachers currently living in their apartments, while at the same time refusing to adjust salaries for the increased cost of living. As mentioned, new teachers will be charged 300 rials monthly.

5. Last year, GlobeNet refused to increase the salaries of its teachers. When teachers tried to negotiate a cost of living increase, GlobeNet told them that the Ministry of Manpower had recently forbade all private sector companies from giving their foreign employees raises�an outright lie.

6. Although not often, GlobeNet is sometimes guilty of not paying its salaries on time. In one glaring example, employees returning back from holiday this year were told that they would be paid 18 days later than usual. They were given no warning of this before leaving and as a result some have had to juggle their finances in order to pay bills back home. According to Omani labor law, salaries must be paid no later than the 7th of every month.

7. When complaints are made against GlobeNet, the complainers are told not to bother to complain because the owner of GlobeNet is a powerful person and he can do what he wants.

8. Due to the connections of the owner of GlobeNet, GlobeNet has managed to keep contracts that it doesn�t deserve to keep.

Think twice before signing a contract with GlobeNet. Will you be happy to know that they are skimming 300-400 rials off the top of your salary every month (in addition to what they are paid by the ministry)? Will you be happy to pay a highly inflated price for an extremely dumpy apartment in bad repair? Will you be happy to be at their whim when they arbitrarily decide to pay you two weeks late? Will you be happy to have your concerns met with extremely unhelpful staff? Will you be happy to work for years without an increment or cost of living adjustment?

[camelman]

I have mentioned before in older posts about Globnet. As far as the owner being powerful, please he is retired police captain who was in the police doing accounts. They are a dodgy outfit and please don�t get me started on the office staff, that will come in a mo.

They do pay the lowest salary and the accommodation that they had in the past found for the teaching staff was below, well below standard, Filipino staff were made to share the tiniest of living space and were charged full rent per person for doing so. Medical insurance was not provided by them a year or so ago and was only introduced last year. Teachers had to pay for all medical care and were told to just send the receipt in for reimbursement. As far as I know salaries were always paid on time and were never late and that was the only plus thing about them. There is no year end pay increase even for teachers who have been there for two or more years. Gratuity is not paid on completion of contract and on occasions teachers have had to pay their own way home at the end of the contract period. Deductions are made left right and centre.

There has always been a serious lack of communication between office and teachers which resulted in waiting weeks for a simple yes no answer. The girl, who works in the office, let�s call her Ms L, for arguments sake, would NEVER answer the phone and was always busy and all emails sent to her went unanswered. One of the recruiters ummm let me see, I know lets call him Mr E; well he has every excuse in the book. He would always say �I am in a meeting now, but I will call you right back� and never called.

A shoddy outfit with a total waste of space staff, without an ounce of brain between them.

Your best bet is to avoid recruiters all together and go for direct hire. Out of the three main recruiters CECNE, Bahwan and Globnet, the first is the best choice.

[veiledsentiments]

Which colleges is Globenet recruiting for?

Personally I would bombard the Ministry with complaints and make sure that any teachers stiffed out of the legally required gratuities or other pay file a case with the labor ministry. (even if they won't or can't follow it up) Bring as much shame as possible onto the owner as he deserves.

Best advice is still... avoid these recruiters unless you are desperate.

VS

[camelman]

They recruit for the Colleges of Technology. The ministry know what is going on but as far as they are concerned they have paid their side of the money and what the recruiter does is up to him. It�s a no win situation VS, as long as teachers put up and keep quiet about it the more it will continue. Most of Globnet teachers are Filipinos and they don�t speak up for fear of loosing their jobs. Native speakers got wise and left!

[veiledsentiments]

Yes, the Filipinos or Indians won't fight for their rights unfortunately... and they get treated appallingly by many employers. I knew that they recruited for the Colleges, but which ones? all of them?

VS

[camelman]

All of them.

[WiseSheikh]

I have read with interest the posts and comments that have been made about this company Globenet and I must say that many of the things said are kind of (unknowingly, I assumme) distorted. The Staff of Globenet have not made it easier on themselves either by not coming out to correct these comments which then of course, gives the impression that they have something to hide.

I know Globenet and I have worked with them a bit. There are flaws no doubt as in any human organisation but not to the extent that we are being made to believe in all these posts and comments.

Globenet does not own buildings � These buildings are leased from Omani Landlords because it is easier and more convenient for these landlords to lease flats in bulk.

Accommodation - Within the last one year, housing rents all over Oman increased astronomically, in some places by as much as 50%. The 2-bedroom apartment where I live costs R.O. 400 and some of my friends consider that a steal. Then consider the rent of a one-bedroom, furnished apartment. I don�t know if Globenet forces anyone to take these apartments but I am sure people living in Muscat know how difficult it is getting an accommodation in the last year. I have visited with a few friends in these Globenet apartments and I would say that that they are just fine.

Skimming 300 to 400 Rials off the top of teachers� salaries?????? Isn�t this stretching it a little too much?????? Come on!!

�GlobeNet told them that the Ministry of Manpower had recently forbade all private sector companies from giving their foreign employees raises �.� Come on, this is BS. I am sorry.

�When complaints are made against GlobeNet, the complainers are told not to bother to complain because the owner of GlobeNet is a powerful person and he can do what he wants�. Come on. Such a blatant disregard for the law, give me a break. If all these allegations are true, how powerful can one man be? I have thought about all these comments and have asked questions and many of them are simply not true.

[007]

WiseSheikh,
Just out of curiosity, why do you think GlobNet offer low salary to candidates with PhD and few years of experience?
Also, who is worst, GlobeNet or Bahwan Cybertek LLC?

[veiledsentiments]

Duh... these recruiters pay as little as possible to be able to skim what they can. Obvious answer... It's a business after all.

It is a race to the bottom with all these recruiters... and the same advice goes for all of them. Don't take a job through a recruiter unless you can't get anything else.

If you have an MA (or higher) and some decent experience teaching academic English, don't even think about going with them. If you don't have the qualifications, but are interested in living/working in Oman, you are pretty much stuck with this gang of thieves and merely consider it part of the 'adventure.'

VS

[WiseSheikh]

007,

I am not in the position to judge which recruiter is better; some say Globenet is good in this and that, others say Bahwan is better. I believe both recruiters do have their flaws but not the way it had been potrayed in the various postings.

With regards to the salary you do need to be a little more specific. Is the person in question a native language speaker? This is because I know that all the recruiters do pay more for native speakers than they do for other nationalities. This was a point of contention a few months back when recruiters announced new pay scales for the teaching staff. Teachers of other nationalities felt slighted because many had PhDs and MAs as compared to the western colleagues.

Recruiters are definitely running a business. How much they make in terms of profit, I do not know and I really do not lose sleep over this. I get paid what I believe is fair to me and I do have many friends (well qualified native speakers) with Globenet and Bahwan and are quite happy with their salaries.

[Duffy]

WS,

First you say this:

[WiseSheikh]

Duffy,

Thanks for the correction (a-s-s-u-m-e, right? ) but I am sure many of us have made errors (typographical) like this before and probably will continue to do so (for those of us not patient enough to do a spell check). I am just amused that you are the only one to have spotted (probably the other 2 where just polite enough to ignore it) this out of the 3 responses received so far.

Your response just simply underscores what I have been trying to say; most times we all try so hard to spot the mistakes and pounce on it when one is committed.

Again, I am not a supporter of any of the recruiters but from what I have seen and what I know over these past years, it is not as bad as it is being potrayed.

[lotsa]

Yes everyone is prone to errors and unfortunately posting on this forum leaves one open for criticism.

Still, not everyone is perfect. For example, "Y'know" - couldn't find that in the dictionary, but it is probably accepted practice. Also, putting two question marks onto the end of sentence. Didn't know that was correct use of the question mark. Still, we can all be tolerant of minor errors.... write??