Korean Job Discussion Forums

[real merry hijackers]

anyone know the dish with this? i heard 30% of people being let go, and closing gangnam office. maybe others? dirty rumour?

WSI is a big fella. might be a sign of things to come.

[jillbean1217]

From what I've heard, it's true. A bunch of my good friends work there, and one of them is being let go. Supposedly they're supposed to lay off one person from every department. Although this could be a sign of things to come, it could also just be a sign of poor planning and overextension in a crap economy. They were hiring new people at that specific branch less than a month ago...so maybe they just missed the economic memo and really did "overextend"? But, who knows at this point.

[martinpil]

It's most probably getting rid of people they don't want or who can't teach properly, because they were telling me the other day that they were ok for staff untill the summer and will keep my CV on file. It's just a tactful way of getting rid of people who dont perform.

[jillbean1217]

[weatherman]

[ajgeddes]

They are letting 30% of their staff go, foreign and Korean. One Gangnam centre and one Sinchon centre are getting closed. They expanded right when the economy took its downturn last spring and things haven't been good there since.

[martinpil]

Do they have a particular method to teach like Berlitz for example or is it up to the teacher what he teaches? And how much do they pay for a fulltime contract? Do they offer accommodation... I know theyre closing but just wondered.

[ajgeddes]

IMHO their full-time contract is terrible. Part-time is the way to go. They are very well structured and the people that work there seem to be happy. Classes have a maximum of 4 people per class. They won't go out of business, they just expanded at the worst possible time.

[bizrandom]

[Forbidden-Donut]

My friend works there, and yea, they are closing two branches, and offering some extra severance pay incentives if teachers want to give up their job. The teacher has to let them know within 3 days though, from what I heard, not alot of time especially since it is holiday season. One teacher and some Korean staff will be let go from each location as well, just like everyone here has said. Though I heard the layoffs were coming a lot sooner than Jan 31st..

My friend mentioned that these layoffs were announced on the 23rd. Two days before christmas! Whats up with that? Couldn't they wait until after the holidays at least?

[Draz]

[smogdonkey]

Not Jan. 31, December 31, and not 1 from each center, many.

Some real good and well-liked teachers, as well as Korean staff members, are losing their jobs. Some people found out Friday, some won't until Monday.

They are offering one month's salary as a package for both those who voluntarily resign and those who are laid off.

They were just hiring as recently as two weeks ago, and now they're laying off people in chunks.

[buymybook]

[buymybook]

[smogdonkey]

FT WSI teachers are required to be at the center for 9 hours a day, minus 1 hour for lunch, while teaching anywhere from 3-6 classes per day, depending on student demand. FT teachers are paid a salary, regardless of how many classes are scheduled/taught. They also have one (paid?) vacation day per month.

Part time teachers usually work 3 hours per day. A good majority of them were from 7-10pm. There were some who taught 4 hours per day, but those have been cut down to 3 in recent weeks. PT teachers are required to stay at the center only for those classes, and are paid on an hourly basis, though even if students cancel they are paid.

Working 4 hours a day plus every third Saturday usually ended up within a couple hundred per month of the average FT contracts.

So basically, if you have nothing better to do with 5 or 6 hours of your day, then yeah, the FT contract is better.