Korean Job Discussion Forums

[indiglo123]

For those of you teaching intensives this winter vacation I am wondering if you feel you are being overworked and underpaid?

I added up the numbers and was shocked to see how much money my boss will make. I estimate that she will make approx 30-35 million won this winter intensive. Although this is just a rough guess, I feel like I should be getting a bigger piece of the pie!

Here are some numbers for this years winter intensive course:

cost per student : 500,000 won
cost per interview : 10, 000 won (about 900,000 won)

# of students: approx 70

Misc. ( ie. cut on books/photocopies/unknown expenses ) I guess about 5,000 won per student.

Approx total: 36,250,000 won


Let's see,

Four foreign teachers at 19, 000 per hour overtime.
Two Korea teachers who get no overtime. (Even worse, I know, but that is another issue)

It works out to be about 4,500, 000 won for overtime pay.

Minus 1,250, 000 as misc. (ie. advertizing, other crap)

So that leaves about 30, 000, 000 won.

You also cannot forget regular classes. I am not even going to try and add that up, but I get the feeling that I am working too hard just to make my boss rich.

My schedule is hell for this month. I wake up at 8 am, go to work, eat lunch (1:30 break), teach until 9 pm, go home, correct essays, grade tests, eat supper, go to bed, >>>>>>>>

The weekends are spent trying to catch up with regular classes, preparing tests, cleaning the apt. (GOD what a mess ) WORK WORK WORK


I guess it could be worse, but when I see how much my boss makes I just feel I am being taken advantage of somehow. Oh well, only another three weeks to go!

What are your feelings? How is your situation?

[osangrl]

My boss decided not to have intensives this year....so u have it goooooood.

[Real Reality]

indiglo123 wrote,
"I am wondering if you feel you are being overworked and underpaid?"

Yes.
It is similar in some university programs. The institute and univeristy get the money. You work; your boss (owner) makes the profit.

[Mr. Pink]

Why are you working for 19,000 an hour?

[indiglo123]

We get paid 19,000 for overtime pay.

[ohahakehte]

i was informed last month that i would be paid more for doing an additional 80 minute TOEIC class every tuesday and thursday in january. i havent been kept informed as to whether im still being paid more for teaching those classes, but im not working any longer than i was last month. because enrollment has fallen this month, i teach 7 less classes - 40 minutes each - than i did in december. i wouldnt be the least surprised if they tell me on monday, "oh, you're not doing overtime because you have less classes, so we arent paying you overtime." meanwhile they knew full well that enrollment usually always decreases in january because the kids are on vacation - so they didnt have to be dishonest by saying that i would be paid more.

[kangnam mafioso]

work for a uni. instead of intensives you would be getting one month off this time of year!

[dutchman]

How much your boss profits is none of your business. It's very immature for an employee who is getting paid a fair wage to complain about the employer making a lot of money. She's the one who took the risk, put up the capital and deals with all the headaches. She's the one who should reap the rewards. You're entitled to nothing more than your agreed upon wage. Anything more than that is generosity on your boss' part.

That's the way the business world works. Learn to live with it. If you can't, start your own business.

[Corporal]

Thanks, Austin.

[dutchman]

[Hank Scorpio]

[canuckistan]

[Corporal]

[Real Reality]

Hank Scorpio wrote,
"move to a job that will compensate you better; that's the beautiful thing about a free market."

Are foreigners included in the Korean free market?

When laws constantly change, people cannot plan well. After all if you make investment decisions based on an existing legal structure, it's possible that you could be wiped out by unanticipated changes in the law. So what do people do in such an environment? They shorten their investment time horizon and become more now oriented. Now-orientation is not the way to prosperity.

In order to provide the institutional framework for a laissez-faire economy, government must restrict its functions mostly to that of being a "referee." As such it shouldn't choose sides. Governments should guarantee private property rights, enforce contractual terms (including the provisions of criminal law), establish rule of law and provide for certain public goods.
http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/articles/99/free-markets.htm

According to the Samsung Group's chairman, Lee Kun-hee, to succeed globally, Korea must forgo the thought that Korea and being Korean is superior, and foreign specialists must be treated with respect.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200206/14/200206142349223599900090109011.html

Foreigners working as language teachers have complained that the language institutes frequently violated employment contracts, for which the legal system provided insufficient redress.
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2002/18250.htm

Transparency International's "Corruption Perceptions Index 2003" lists Korea 10 places lower than what it was last year, meaning the country ranked 50th. Corruption and other irregularities are of course nothing new, and it's not exclusively the fault of the president and members of the National Assembly. The reality is that everything from the central government to regional ones, and the private sector, such as between corporate purchasing and subcontractors, are involved. And the food chain of corruption goes on and on.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200310/200310080034.html

Money key to teaching posts
The majority of the 166 respondents who were asked to make donations said they were pushed to pay from 50 million won ($42,000) to 100 million won. About 40 said that they were asked to pay more than 100 million won; five said the school demanded 200 million won.

Almost 40 percent said discrimination based on gender, age, religion and the country where an applicant completed his academic degree was prevalent.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200207/09/200207090054252629900090409041.html

Free Markets Promote Unrest, Not Democracy
The application of free-market nostrums in the developing world in fact has aggravated poverty. It has led to declining standards of living and widening income disparities.
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0802-04.htm

Are markets selfish?
The question of the free market system has nothing to do with selfishness and everything to do with whether it is an efficient means of balancing various desires (and what your view is on personal freedom of choice compared to decision by some higher power).
http://thoughts.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$11

[lush72]