Korean Job Discussion Forums

[TheChickenLover]

There are numerous posts every month about someone getting a ton of complaints, being fired or suddenly having a ton of work dumped on them at the 10 month mark that must be done 'or else'.
Yet it never fails to amaze me that the reply's to these posts offer the standard advice of labour board, tell them to stuff it or just leave. What has amazed me is that after all this time, many newcomers to this board (and some old timers) have not yet realized the fact that many schools did not actually intend to keep you for a year.
The costs for a school could be broken down as follows
- salary (fixed)
- housing (may be fixed or owned by your employer)
- medical / pension (may or may not be paid)
- airfare
- year end bonus (1 months salary)
- recruiter fee (we'll assume 1M won as a standard fee)

With the excessive nickel & diming that many employers do in their business, it can be quite obvious that many employers have no intention on keeping ANY employee for a full year. In many cases, it's actually cheaper to fire someone & wait it out knowing that there is a very strong chance that the foreign teacher may just leave and surrender all their rights as they fly away home.

This isn't just common, in many cases it's standard procedure. A months salary + airfare can total up to a significant amount of money for essentially 'nothing' in the eyes of the employer. The laws here favour the employer in the sense that if you file a legal complaint, the employer can simply not show up & 'wait you out' while your cash reserves run dry & are forced to leave. For those that do stay, the costs of actually winning can seriously cut into any money that is coming to them. So if you know that there is a 90% chance that you can fire an employee & get away with it, firing employees is not only a good thing, it makes good business sense since you're saving yourself a signficant amount of money.

Of course not every boss does this, but there are certain tactics that employers do to force someone to quit or be fired.
- change the amount of work required to a level that is both unreasonable & impossible
- create sudden complaints to document a reason for dismissal
- simply fire the teacher & wait for them to leave
- refuse to pay the employees while they are working under promise of future payment that will never be realized.
- do not register the teacher under taxes, pension and refuse to pay while pocketing the money

There is a cultural aspect of Korea that allows such practices to be accepted since it has been widely accepted in Korea that a certain level of dishonesty & corruption is tolerated as long as it is for the betterment of society & the development of Korea. For decades the gov't has turned a blind eye since at the end of the day the country got stronger, but not entirely honestly. However, the country did get stronger & that's what mattered at the end of the day.
The courts and police are aware of this system & are not accustomed to addressing these problems since they have been prevalent in this society for nearly 40 years. Gov't officials on all levels as well as businesses view this practice not only as an acceptable means to become profitable, but the employees are deemed to 'accept' these terms since they understand that the company comes first before anything else.

This however does not work with those who come from a culture that is not based on a corrupt business ethic. Teachers cry foul & employers wonder what the problem is partly because they have seen this all their lives & have become successful in it. Native teachers bring in money, but when they will cease to bring you more, you cut your losses & find someone else. That's not persona, it's just simple good business in a corrupt business world.

It has always been said that contracts are nothing more than a 'working agreement' that is a vague way of saying that things an go in a general direction, but can be changed from time to time. One teacher here recently complained of being asked to provide lesson plans for the past 9 months. What he doesn't realize is the employer doesn't WANT lesson plans. He/she WANTS the employee to quit. This releases a large amount of expenses that are to be incurred in the near future. Even if the teacher DID provide the lesson plans, there is little doubt in my mind that the employer would find them 'unsatisfactory' & use them as grounds for termination for failure to perform her duties in a satisfactory manner. It's not personal, it's just the Korean way.

So why am I writing this? Well I would say that if you are working for a public school, these practices are curtailed. However private hogwans don't necessarily want to keep you for a year. When negotiating a contract, ALWAYS keep in mind that you may very well not get your airfare or bonus. I would suggest you negotiate a salary that may compensate for this or offset your future losses. However keep in mind that you are very much an expendable asset that will be discarded when you suddenly become a larger expense than you are worth (as at the end of your contract).

Just something to think about.

Chicken

[marlow]

[antoniothegreat]

i never worked in a hogwon, but this does have some legitimicy.

but, what can we, as a group, a non-union group, do about it?

that is not an attack, that is a serious question.

[Unposter]

I've known people to negotiate being paid an extra 100,000 + per month instead of being paid severance at the end of the year.

[VanIslander]

make lemonade my friend, make lemonade

if you suspect you're employer doesn't want you around to the end of your contract then find a new job between month nine and eleven and you'll easily get a letter of release to transfer your E-2 visa and not have to do a visa run, a smooth segue into the next job (better job, if researched well, which means talk to previous teachers, to ensure no track record of bad tactics) - and voila!

win-win

[TheChickenLover]

[lebowski]

[gangpae]

The only good reason for working at a hagwon is that, if you lack a master's degree, most universities like to see one year of 'Korea' teaching experience before they'll hire you. I've heard guys talking up their hagwon when things are going well, but when things go bad they change their tune pretty fast. And don't get me started on Public school jobs.....

[marlow]

[Mikenski]

Thank you for concisely tying together some of my anxieties about job security in Korea. Oh dear, as I continue to weigh the pros and cons, this thread adds a few points to the 'discouraged and look elsewhere' side. Or maybe I should take the plunge anyway so I can have something to bitch about? Ehehe.

[Draz]

[keetrainchild]

This happened to me; my school fired me just over one month early to avoid paying my severance bonus. If that's not bad enough, now my prospective employers in Korea won't consider it a full year of teaching because it was one month short, so they don't want to pay me the salary that I (think I) deserve.