Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Mix1]

...My schedule has suddenly been changed (without notifying me) so that I work until 10:30 pm every day instead of the usual 9:30 or sometimes 8:30 pm...! My boss didn't give me more classes, but rather an extra hour break late at night so now I finish at 10:30...so I don't teach any more, I just have to stay longer!
Any tips on how to proceed? I am the only foreigner there so this only impacts me. I've been working my butt off for the guy and this is how I get paid back? I feel like drawing a line in the sand but not sure if it is warranted. How would some of you other teachers handle this? I'd like to be professional about it and not ruin the business relationship with my boss... thanks.

[kprrok]

If he's been cool the rest of the time, I doubt he did this solely to piss you off or to screw over the whitey. It's probably just a scheduling thing where other teachers need different times due to other things.

KPRROK

[Mix1]

yes, I don't think he meant any real harm to me personally...but how should I handle it? I really don't want to stay until 10:30 every night. I can deal with it temporarily, but if permanent I'm rather disappointed. It's not the end of the world, but it definitely puts a cramp in my social life to say the least, and I need to get up early most mornings as well.

[thegadfly]

Does your contract state the operating hours of the school? I am assuming not, but perhaps they are....

Are you the only teacher there that late, or are you now staying as late as the K teachers? Is your boss there as late as you? I would approach it differently in each case.

If you are the ONLY person that has to be there that late, then I think you may want to take a stand...if the Korean teachers, secretaries, and your boss are there that late most nights, and now you are told to be too...then, I think it is kind of the nature of that workplace.

You said you still teach the same number of classes, but you have to stay later...and that you need to get up early -- just how much of a split are we talking? Do you have a businessmen 6am class, kindy at 9am, elementary kids at 3pm and middle schoolers from 8 'til 10:30? Or do you come in at 2pm and stay 'til 10:30? Somewhere in between?

Certainly, I would politely ask to return to earlier nights whenever possible, but if it isn't an increase in classes, and the K teachers already have to do it, and you are getting all of your classes within an 8-9 hour span, then I would say just bite the bullet. If you have an ugly split (more than 12 hour span, more than once a week), you are the ONLY person that has such a schedule, or it is unwanted OT, I would say to fight it as politely but fiercely as you are able.

[contrarian]

During summer school at the high school where I teach, I had one class at 4:00 pm. That was nice. But I still had to be there from 9:00 to 5:00. Seven hours a day of surfing the net is a bit much.

But those were the rules so "grin and bear it".

[Juregen]

Tell him that you understand the difficulty of his job in finding optimal schedules, but that working for you till 10:00 PM is not preferred.

Help him in finding a better solution?

[Mix1]

I don't work an official split shift... I work a different job. So I can't really work the "I get up early" angle. I will check my contract for working hours as well. Also, only one Korean teacher teaches this late as well now, I got shifted with another Korean teacher who now gets to go home earlier... so this is why I feel I'm getting a bit shafted I suppose.

[Whistleblower]

It is good to get your working hours stipulated within your employment contract. This way, "Mr. Hagwon Boss" can't shaft you over your hours. At the end of the day, take this as a learning curve.

[betty74]

So if your employer changes your hours when your hours are clearly stated in the contract, and he has pulled a few things in the two months I have worked for him, how do you deal with this situation diplomatically?

[thegadfly]

Mix1,

Sorry, I realize it is an unhappy turn of events for you, but it kind of sounds like you had it better than usual to start and have only now been given a less-than-preferred shift. There is another person that has it just as bad as you, and apparently that person had it this bad while you were getting off at an earlier time...and the OTHER person who ALSO had the bad shifts swapped places with you -- so now YOU have to work that schedule.... Maybe I do not understand things, but taking turns with the least-desirable shift sounds pretty fair.

Betty74,

Diplomatically? I think diplomacy requires both sides to be reasonable and willing to compromise about SOMETHING...so if you HAD to give up the hours that were clearly stated in the contract, what did you get in return?

If your boss is reasonable and willing to compromise, try to get creative about what you would accept in return for your team effort. If unreasonable, diplomacy probably won't work, so if you are willing and able to quit, perhaps you should just deliver a politely worded ultimatum.

Heck, sometimes, just a polite but firm "no" will solve all the headaches. As in, "no, I will not work outside the contracted hours -- go ahead and schedule the classes if you want, but I won't be there." OK, so THAT wording is less than polite, but you get the idea. People always test the limits of what others will do/put up with....

[Mix1]

Yeah, I did have a good situation...but now that I work 2pm to 10:30 pm, that last hour is a bit rough. Oh well. There is nothing in my contract stating hours at the school, it only states that I will work 6 "teaching hours" a day but doesn't mention working times...in future contracts I guess I should address this?
I agree that people/employers will push the limits of what they can get away with, which is why I don't just want to roll over and send the message .."anything you do is OK with me..." sort of thing. I would like to honorably and repectfully convey this message, and there lays the difficulty ...

[thegadfly]

Mix1,

You said that you had another job in the mornings, but I have been assuming that the evening job is a full-time job. I think it is reasonable and useful to look at a full-time job here as if it were a full-time job in my home country (the US in my case). 9-5 (9 hour shift with a meal break somewhere), 40 hours a week. Some people confuse class hours with work hours -- any teacher worth anything has to spend SOME time preparing lessons and going over homework, so for my full-time teaching gigs, if the school's expectations are 9 hours or less in a row (in a row! splits are completely different!), with time to eat, and less than 40 hours a week of combined class/work/face time, I think it is reasonable.

There is a difference between reasonable and good. I'm just saying I wouldn't quit over this if the students, administration, and pay were decent. I'd try to get it changed, but I wouldn't pick it as one of my fights.