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pkers07
Joined: 31 Mar 2007 Posts: 18 Location: Paradise
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Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 8:48 pm Post subject: QP new main contractor - Language solutions? |
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Hi guys,
I stumbled on this weblink when i was googling email address of QP new contractor - Language Solutions. I am not really sure whether they are the same. So, guys check out this link and prove me wrong;
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=49505&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
If they are, then the contract English teachers are doomed! LS reputation leaves much to be desired going by the above web link.
This outfit should be given a BIG MISS. They are too stingy/tight fisted to be an employer. Imagine the new contract teachers will only provide buses for teachers transport to and fro work - they care less about their well being after work.
It would be disappointing if not humiliating for a big company like QP to go ahead and award the project to Language Solutions going by their advert on tefl.com vis-a-vis the contract English teachers work conditions! |
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Zajko
Joined: 31 May 2007 Posts: 130 Location: No Fixed Address :)
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Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 2:25 pm Post subject: |
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I think the key phrase in your posting is 'going by the above web link', which has a few negative comments of the kind you can find on this board on any number of employers. Some may be genuine; some are just as likely written by individuals who are nursing a grievance after being dismissed for misconduct or for doing a shoddy job.
During the period I worked for LangSols I can't say I had any real issues with them. They delivered what they stated in the contract, they paid on time, the work wasn't particularly demanding and they treated decent teachers decently. However, they did seem to employ more than the average number of buffoons and misanthropes. Even from the 6 month stint I did for them some time back during a break between long-term contracts, I can recall 3 teachers who were fired for reasons (without going into unpleasant personal details) that to any employer, in any business, in any country, would have been valid grounds for summary dismissal. Two of those three, I have since recognised here on this board, posting vindictive, self-righteous nonsense about how shamefully they were treated, and what an appalling employer they worked for.
LangSols have their faults, as most big agencies in this business do. I'm sure there are people who have worked for them and have legitimate causes for complaint. An organisation like this runs a lot of big contracts in a lot of different countries over long and short periods of time. Some will be professional and well run. Others may have some serious issues. Maybe I got lucky. But you can't just believe everything you read on semi-anonymous forums like this, or always assume it's 100% truth. |
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millie18
Joined: 23 Oct 2007 Posts: 185
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Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 4:47 am Post subject: |
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Just as an FYI there are several employers who provide bus transportation to employees (i.e. faculty) to and from work in Qatar including QU. Many buy their own vehicles because it is nearly essential depending on where one is housed.
As for caring for teachers after work - Where in the GCC does any employer do anything for employees outside of work hours (at least in education)? In the HCT system they give you a drive for a few days so that you can get your medical check done and buy a few basics and start your search for furniture, but after that, you're on your own. Same at ZU and AUS etc.
So LangSols is no different/worse than many other employers in Doha or the GCC in these two areas. What are the contact hours? How many teaching days are there per semester/year? What's the housing like? Perhaps these areas are deal breakers? |
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veiledsentiments

Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA
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Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 2:24 pm Post subject: |
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I had the same thought when I read that... QP was one of the only places that I ever heard of that provided teachers with a 'shared car' and they are now learning how unusual that is. Actually I never worked for anyone that even provided a bus. That has always seemed to be something that one heard about happening in Saudi - especially as women can't drive.
As you say, after the first week or so, it was your problem to figure out how to get to work, no less how to shop. That was my experience.
VS |
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banana republic
Joined: 01 Feb 2010 Posts: 6
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Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 7:24 pm Post subject: QP transport |
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VS and Millie18. The car issue is not about whether your employer has a duty to provide you with transport to and from work, but about how well you are treated by that employer. Until now previous contractors, not QP, have provided shared car transport, perhaps to offset lower salaries than paid by universities and colleges. Of course, this meant that contract teachers could be switched from site to site at a moment's notice without additional pay - Messaied is at least 30 minute's drive from Doha and would not warrant the expense of a bus for the small number of teachers who work there.
If Language Solutions has not considered the effect of reduced conditions on morale of the staff who have worked for the previous contractor, and some for the one before that, maybe this is not a good gig for me to try to hang on for.
VS, and perhaps Millie18, it seems that you have both worked in tertiary education, with salaries, holidays and other benefits much better than the average industrial language teaching operation in the Gulf. How would you have felt if you were suddenly told that your package was to be reduced because a new boss was about to take over? The work is the same, the students are the same, but the conditions are worse! Sure, the option is open to go, and that is probably what I will do once I have received my final settlement from Imtiaz, who have been a pain to deal with, but who actually raised salaries when it was clear that they were out of line with other contractors. |
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misterkodak

Joined: 04 Apr 2003 Posts: 166 Location: Neither Here Nor There
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Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 11:07 pm Post subject: |
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I'm still trying to figure out what your obsession with driving has to do with morale and the new contract. Most teachers are more worried about IMTIAZ granting them the NOC to go and work with other firms (or the new contractor) here. It seems that the almighty Dr. K is playing hardball in the hope he can somehow salvage something out if it. For someone who makes Umrah twice a month, I really find it hypocritcal that he can try to play with the lives of other people. Out of the original 32 contractors, maybe 19 have been accepted for the new contract and all that hinges on the NOC. The last I checked, the new contractor was offering a little more money (12,000 QR instead of 11,800 ) than the old contractor. No, it's not what most teachers think they should earn, but could we ever be paid enough? At the end of the day QP and Language Solutions are firms just like anywhere else.
Although I have a Qatari license, I seldom drove. If the new contractor wants to send teachers out to the other remote sites, then they have to sort it. I've never enjoyed driving cars that didn't belong to me to begin with. It wouldn't be the first time I've ever taken a bus to work.
I've taught in both tertiary education and here in the industrial sector. Sorry to burst your bubble, but you can't compare the quality in students. Most of the entry level trainees at the RAA training centre are the ones who couldn't or didn't make the cut for university. They're the ones who are one step above the police and military on the ladder. I don't know how it is with groups in Villagio or Mesaieed.
I don't think the benefits are that much different in the two industries. The standards for students in tertiary education are definitely higher than QP has for teachers and trainees. Where else can you find English teachers who lack qualifications or sometimes don't speak English as well as many of their students do? Last summer QP and/or emptyass fired quite alot of more than qualified teachers and kept alot of the "wastafarians".
It's like the old military adage says "There's only one good place in the world : where you've been.Where you're presently at and where you're going to both equally suck." |
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Zajko
Joined: 31 May 2007 Posts: 130 Location: No Fixed Address :)
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 1:52 am Post subject: |
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What exactly is your problem, Banana Republic, with travelling to work with your colleagues in a bus? Are you one of those annoying people who thinks they're too important to commute with the hoi polloi? Or is it just a personal prestige thing? I can't myself see any issue with an employer providing a (normally quite comfortable, modern, air-conditioned, punctual) bus or minibus which picks me up at my front door each morning and gives me a chance to meet my colleagues and say good morning on the journey in. Bus, minibus, car, what the hell's the difference? It just depends on the number of employees the company has and the logistics of where they live and where they're going as to what's most convenient. 99.9% of working people around the world (including most of us in EFL) have to make their own way to work each day at their own expense - we are, after all, adults.
"....worked in tertiary education, with salaries, holidays and other benefits much better than the average industrial language teaching operation in the Gulf...."
Firstly, when I worked in tertiary education in the Gulf, it was just as acceptable sometimes to get a bus to work as it was in other 'industrial' roles. Secondly, the pay and conditions in tertiary education are normally better because higher qualifications (such as an MA) are expected. Most teachers working for LangSols when I was there didn't have a master's degree: again, it's normal working practice anywhere in the world that better qualified = better pay and conditions. If you don't like that: get an MA. If you already have one, then find one of these 'much better' jobs you're surmising about.
Looking at the facts here (many of which appear to be still unknown) I'm really not sure what your point is, bar a hubristic obsession with having your own chauffeured car and a presumption that any new employer/contractor is a demon out to rip you off before you've even established the facts or started working for them.
"How would you have felt if you were suddenly told that your package was to be reduced because a new boss was about to take over?"
It's not clear to me that this is the case at all here, but as you (rightly, for once) point out, no-one's holding a gun to your head. I'd have said 'thanks, but no thanks' and walked away. Much better to do that than to stay, harbouring resentment over petty trifles, and finish up making your own and your colleagues' lives a misery. |
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doner
Joined: 21 Jan 2010 Posts: 179
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 2:06 am Post subject: |
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You should have seen the transport in Baku. Langsols had 1 driver who was not too bad but drove an ancient Russian car that he was immensely proud of and then a dirty old local who drove a dirty clapped out car that could not go up a hill without wheezing and coughing. You would arrive at BP or Halliburton offices with a minute to spare after a harrowing battle across town in a clapped out car driven by a maniac who stopped for petrol all the time as he could only afford to put a gallon in at a time. You then had to teach in state of the art offices-needless to say the langsols office left a lot to be desired.
No need to worry though for the langsols teachers who were in Saudi. They had no transport and lived in the middle of nowhere. When they asked Krispy who was out on a visit he got very annoyed at the thought that langsols should provide transport even though the security situation was nasty at the time. |
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Zajko
Joined: 31 May 2007 Posts: 130 Location: No Fixed Address :)
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 2:34 am Post subject: |
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I had heard here were some issues with LangSols in Saudi a while back, it's true. Though as I mentioned earlier, with many of these big agencies, these factors often vary enormously from country to country and contract to contract, depending on who's running the show on the ground at the time. In Kuwait, for example, the transport was a modern, air-conditioned minibus which arrived on time and ran without problems. Even used to stop off at the supermarket on the way home some days, by popular request.
But imagine having a 'dirty old local' driving..... I mean, don't you always insist that your employer is contractually obliged to provide you with a properly licensed and verified European chauffeur? To me, ancient Russian cars are part of the joy and culture of somewhere like Baku - which, let's face it, is not the Gulf and you wouldn't want or expect it to be. Much more fun, though  |
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doner
Joined: 21 Jan 2010 Posts: 179
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 9:41 am Post subject: |
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Lang sols is not a big agency. They pretend to be and you would be fooled into thinking so by there website and Barks posturing but in fact they are tiny. The outfit in saudi are now advertising for their own teachers at much higher salaries. |
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Zajko
Joined: 31 May 2007 Posts: 130 Location: No Fixed Address :)
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 4:29 pm Post subject: |
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Of course if 'the outfit' (ie the previous contractor) in Saudi are now hiring their teachers directly, they'll be paying a higher salary. They're cutting out the middleman (the agency, ie LangSols) - that's elementary business studies logic. It certainly doesn't guarantee you'll be treated better. And whether they're 'big' is simply a matter of relative definition, for what it's worth. Not quite sure what your point is here. |
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doner
Joined: 21 Jan 2010 Posts: 179
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 5:22 pm Post subject: |
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Not elementary business logic at all. They are paying higher salaries and providing work visas because the lang sol teachers kept doing runners. I am proud of the fact that I drove my 2 friends across the border so they could do their runners. Many contractors in Saudi get paid a lot more than the direct hires-the Saudi military direct hire teachers earn a lot less but do have a safer job.
Lang sols is a tupenny hapenny outfit. Lets wait for all the Qatar lang sols abuse to be posted on here. |
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Zajko
Joined: 31 May 2007 Posts: 130 Location: No Fixed Address :)
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 1:53 am Post subject: |
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The point wasn't WHY they are paying higher salaries (here you're probably quite right: it's primarily for staff retention) but that they justify these economically by cutting out the middleman. Another thing that's worth bearing in mind re many jobs with contractors such as LangSols is that they are often short-term: some I've known as short as 6 weeks, though 3 or 6 months seems more normal. Although there are some benefits to teachers here who only want a short-term placement, it also increases the relative costs for the employer/agency (airfare, visa costs, recruitment etc) - this is, of course, reflected in the salaries paid.
Re your other comments, fair enough. I think that's they key, though - let's wait and see what comes of the QP contract and maybe not prejudge. Especially when we (neither you nor I) aren't currently on the ground in Qatar and are going by differing past experiences. I do know from friends of mine that LangSols in Saudi (specifically) a while back had some issues. Similarly, I know of projects they ran elsewhere, from personal experience as well as from info from others, that were perfectly well run. Guess time'll tell which of these the QP contract'll be, but perhaps one shouldn't always presume the worst. Most of us, including businesses and employers, learn from mistakes - even if only from the PR effect of them - and generally improve over time. |
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RDRD
Joined: 04 Feb 2010 Posts: 17
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 4:31 am Post subject: |
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I worked for Lang Sols recently (although not in Saudi) and I like the company quite a bit. I had good bosses there and no one ever pulled anything sketchy. The salary I got with them was mid-range for the country I was in but I had an open-ended contract after three months, which was a major plus for me. I loved the job itself, it was easy and the students were fun. My take on the company is that they have contracts in places that are undesirable to live in and therefore the money they offer isn't worth it for everyone but for me it was as I saved about $12,000 in 4 months. Having a relationship with a company like Lang Sols, where you can pick up short-term contracts when you're short on cash, can be a life saver. |
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doner
Joined: 21 Jan 2010 Posts: 179
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 1:24 pm Post subject: |
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Saving 4000 dollars a month not in Saudi oh where were you in the Langsols empire.
The Saudi job was another Bark and Crispy abortion. Low pay, crappy housing and on business visas. Oh what will the two toffs think up next? |
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