Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Drunken Monkey]

Jongno

As you said it was a strategic step to a future goal and you really wanted to stay...how about a training budget.

I.e. I want to do this course, it benefits the company from XYZ and it will cost you this much...oh and i will need the time of work to attend this course and that will be accounted seperate from my vacation and will be paid.
You get the benefit of choosing a course that will further benefit your future progression.

[kermo]

[Are they the lemmings]

If I was involved ESL in SK, given the circumstances JongnoGuru stipulates, I'd ask for a slight reduction in hours and the permission I hear is required to apply to immigration to do privates legally.

My last couple of employers were disastrous when it came to salary management, and there was no opportunity for us to even ask for a raise. The initial pay'n'perk packages were so good (and management's business nouse so deficient) that the powers that be soon realised they couldn't afford them, and so we had annual pay cuts, benefit cuts and cost-cutting drives. Why did I stay? Because I was learning my trade - lots of people pay to go to school and get taught what I was learning on the job.

[JongnoGuru]

The "demand your boss let you attend AND pay for career-building/personal-development training on company time" idea is great. But it does strike me as a "something I'd do were I still living in my home-country or maybe somewhere else in the West where I actually understand what people are saying to me" option for the vast majority of non-industrial-trainee fur'ners working on the RoK. Of course, Akbar & Behzad received valuable training in drilling bowling-ball holes down at the complex. But as for real, genuinely useful-for-you & useful-for-your-employer, intensive, world-class, globally-accredited/recognised whitey-training... in a language you speak & can understand... well, I don't know if the RoK is bursting with opportunities in that department. Maybe if you could get them to fly you to conferences & workshops in Hong Kong or Australia for part of the year.

[Are they the lemmings]

[sojourner1]

Have an occassional 3 day weekend!!! Not just one lousy cold and rainy February Lunar New Year 3 day weekend, but actually have several 3 day weekends throughout the year! Most hogwons ask a full schedule with few holidays given off. We do get tomarrow off, Buddha's Birthday, but Friday is a big school day once again so it's not a long weekend to go take a trip to explore Korea or even venture to a major Buddhist temple for tomarrow nights lantern festivals as you would have to be back too early on Friday morning with regional buses not running in the middle of the night. I would head up to Kyeongju or Seoul tomarrow morning and go experience some of what Korea really is rather than staying in my room waiting to go to work again soon on Friday morning.

You can't put a price tag on a 3 day weekend or time off to go enjoy being yourself in a relaxed state of mind and exploring around interesting places. This is what I would take in lieu of a pay raise though no extra money is being offered for a second contract so they obviously know I probably won't take it when public schools offer much better conditions. Time off is Priceless...

[twg]

I asked for a full month off, a flight home and my apartment remaining empty and mine for the duration. And there was a few other things like never having to do the intensive classes, and chopping a few things out of my contract.

To be honest, I was so surprised that a hagwon would agree to the month off I didn't think of trying to get more out of them. Next time I'll be putting the screws to them.

[tzechuk]

Aren't you your own boss, Guru?

I have a great job (no, seriously, it's very good) with a very bright future. If they won't give me a pay rise, I will probably ask them to fund my PhD.

[yingwenlaoshi]

[Tokki1]

[yingwenlaoshi]

If they can afford to then they should be giving raises. Look at how many students you teach. That's an indicator. Think about how much your boss is making. If the job is easy it doesn't matter. Lot easier for him to collect money for the work you do.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[JongnoGuru]

Many including myself have mentioned what is probably the most obvious compensation for a wage freeze: a longer (paid) vacation. "You're giving me less (after inflation) of your money, so I'll give you less of me". Generally cost-free for the employer, it's a logical tradeoff.

Logical, but not applicable everywhere (isn't vacation time dictated from on high for public school teachers & other gov't employees?) nor in perpetuum even when it is negotiable, as you eventually reach a point where comes in the Law of Diminishing Returns. That is, once you've got as much vacation time as even an ex-pat can reasonably expect from an employer (varies by country, but 1 month/year seems par for Korea), anything beyond that is inordinate. Push it and there could be a price to pay, so you've got to look for something other than vacation time to offset a salary freeze.

By 'price' I don't mean you'll incur the dirty looks and ill will of your Korean colleagues. Oh, you most certainly will, but that isn't my point. Rather, I mean in very practical terms, the level of benefit you derive from yet, yet another week of vacation is offset by the unwelcome perception you've inadvertently created in the minds of your employer and colleagues that you're just not as indispensible as you might think. "Gee, you know what? We're managing pretty well even WITHOUT the over-paid big-nose around. Hmm. Maybe..." Whereas ideally, everything goes to pot when you're away, and they're all praying for Superhero Waegook-Man to get back and pull their chestnuts from the fire. As you always do.

Or it can backfiire in other ways. There may be a genuine, legitimate, pants-on-fire emergency whilst you're on your overly loooooong holiday, tanning your hairy backside on the nude beaches of Southern Europe, all naked & incommunicado. Back in Seoul, they flail about and eventually find someone else to come rescue them. Then that person, that low-down interloping scumbag, starts sniffing around at your cushy setup, likes it way more than his own piss-poor-paying gig, gets reeeeeeal schmoozy w/your boss & the gang, and SURPRISE! SURPRISE!... at re-contracting time he gets your job.

In fact, I know of a case where exactly that happened, though I was rather pleased to see it because the usurper was more qualified and did a better job. (Okay, okay -- I was actually more pleased because the usurper was ME! )

[Zyzyfer]

[jvalmer]