Job Discussion Forums

[drandreasbrown]

Hi,
I'm a teacher in Indonesia, have been here for nearly 4 years, looking at jobs in Japan. Most of the wages and terms/condition of employment don't look too good though. What can people tell me about working in Japan generally, and specifically about Westgate and the Shane School?

[Glenski]

Generally? Read all the FAQ stickies and this link.
http://www.eltnews.com/cgi-bin/mbnew/YaBB.pl?num=1103086725

As for Westgate and Shane, may I suggest doing a search?

[TokyoLiz]

I'm supporting a friend who is preparing to extract herself from Shane right now, and when we met over coffee one evening, I was shocked at how awful the conditions are.

Shane contracted an apartment for her, but it was not clean or refurbished before she moved in, and the rent and bills consume nearly half her month's pay. She's paying more than the market value - I checked the realestate in her area, and rent of a space that size is about Y20,000 less on average. As I have read about other Shane employees, employees are required to pay a deposit for the apartment.

She tells me that she must work 13 unpaid days a year, and frequently works 6 days in a row. She almost never gets consecutive days off.

If she is absent due to illness, she goes unpaid for that day. Some days, she finishes lessons early in the day, but is required to stay on site until the next scheduled lesson. The employees appear to be paid by the lesson, not by the day. The short version is, she may go unpaid for hours of the day, and is essentially captive until the student either attends the lesson, phones in to cancel, or fails to attend.

[Glenski]

[Nabby Adams]

Most places don't pay when you are sick in Japan in my experience. But yes stear clear. There are some shocking deals around. The small chains are terrible. Modernenglish in the Osaka area. They pay about 1400 an hour! One hour's teaching for 2 beers in a bar. Christ even my factory days in England paid better than that.

[Khyron]

[Glenski]

If your employer is providing an apartment that has been recycled from a previous teacher(s), there is no need whatsoever to pay key money. That has been done long ago. Ripoff!

[Sour Grape]

The 13 unpaid days is total misleading information spread by people who want to make Shane out to be worse than they actually are.

Your contract specifies the number of days you will work. You read it before you sign it. There are no unpaid days.

It is annoying not to have consecutive days off, although most second year teachers get two days off together. Likewise six day weeks are tiring, but they all count towards the number of days worked. Your friend should really be blaming her colleagues who are presuming cauing her to work all this cover by phoning in sick all the time.

Factor in key money and finding a guarantor for your appartment, and much of that 20 000 yen saving will soon be swallowed up.

I am not the greatest fan of Shane either, but this friend of yours is twisting the facts very much.

For the OP I had an OK time at Shane. I left because there were better jobs out there, not because Shane were awful. Look through some of my past posts and you'll find longer postings about my time there.

[Dipso]

I think your friend has a point about Shane overcharging for accommodation. Towards the end of my (mostly happy) year with Shane I discovered I was paying around 25,000 yen more per month in rent than my Japanese neighbours. The apartment had been let by Shane for several years at that point and teachers continue to live in it to this day. The key money will have been recouped several times over by now. What furnishings and electrical items there were had certainly seen better days. None of my utility bills were included in the rent.

I later got a job with Aeon and was pleasantly surprised to find the company actually subsidised the rent to the tune of 10,000 yen per month.

[Khyron]

[drandreasbrown]

Just to say thanks for everyone to replying. I have heard conflicting things about Japan, maybe I'll just go there on holiday.
Thanks again.

[Apsara]

Just out of interest, what are the terms/conditions of employment in Japan that you thought didn't look too good?

You will hear conflicting things about any country as people's experiences vary widely, even with the same school/company- I bet all the info on teaching in Indonesia on the net isn't positive.

By all means come and visit first, that makes a lot of sense.

[TokyoLiz]

Kyron,

Her apartment rental does not include the bills. When she costs it out, from her take home pay, she's paying half her money into the rental and bills.

The apartment I live in I found by myself. When I moved in, the place was spotless, and entirely refurbished, as specified in the rental contract. This treatment is usually funded by the key money/deposit. However, her apartment was not cleaned properly and her quality of life has suffered as a result. That was the point.

I simply reported what she told me - that she is required to stay on site until her next lesson, and that she is unpaid for the time between scheduled lessons. She has only been in Japan less than a year, and is likely not aware of the Japanese labour code. So few people know their rights as employees in Japan...

What she reports to me is outside my experience of employment in Japan. My employers have never docked my pay for absences due to illness or hospital visits. Of course, I virtually never absent myself, having missed two days in three years of working with one of my employers. Absence isn't an option in Japan, I know.

I have always been on salary, never paid by an hourly rate for a full time (or apparently full time) job.

This weekend, I was out with some friends and met another eikaiwa teacher who was recruited in her home country and is taking home less than Y230,000.

Both are hard-working people who have worked in education in their home countries.

Glenski, I have not seen the Shane employee's work contract.

[Dipso]

[Khyron]