Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Dodge7]

You hear of so many stories that the hagwon owners can't reimburse you for flight tickets, or they don't have enough money to pay severance...blah...blah...blah...
Is this usually made up or are hagwons really that tight financially?

[pkang0202]

It really depends on soooo many factors.


You are talking about generalizing hundreds of thousands of hagwons throughout Korea.

But to answer your question, NO. Most hagwons are not that tight financially. Yes, some are running month to month.


Your question is too broad/general. In order to properly answer your question you need to talk in specifics.

Are all hagwons that have less than 100 students, have only been around less than a year, have owners who took out large business loans to launch the hagwon, running month to month? Probably.

Are all hagwons that have over 500 students, have been around over 10 years, have sky scrapers and a milti-million dollar marketing budget running month to month? No.

[fosterman]

like any business, some are successful and some not.
it's a very tough competitive business, cut throat in a way.

[big_fella1]

The tax office, landlords, suppliers, and employees in Korea are pretty laid back about whether or not they get paid on time. For this reason many insolvent businesses are able to keep trading.

I don't know that the problem is unique to hagwons or applies to all small businesses in Korea as my worst payer wasn't a hagwon.

Get friendly with the Korean staff and find out how late they're being paid, and run when it exceeds 1 week. I might be a bit inflexible on that, some may wait until it reaches a month.

[crescent]

I think this is broadly true for English hogwans at the moment and it has been for at least a few years now.
I know this because of three things:
- I managed a small chain of schools for four years, ending in 2011.
- The owner of the chain was president of the hogwan association during the time I managed the chain.
- I can understand the news.

The 2MB government initiated a push to discourage the hogwan industry not long after his election. The noose has been gradually tightening with increased regulations. Hogwans have been forced to limit their hours of operation, and tuition. Applications must be filled out when raising tuition, making any other major changes in operations, and those applications are investigated by the Education Ministry before being permitted.

This push, together with a contracting population, a slow economy, and the changing mindset of parents toward private education, has drastically affected enrolment across the board. Parents don't have the resources they did 5 years ago. In addition, they have been moving away from single discipline hogwans in favor of 'Ibsi' type hogwans where multiple disciplines are offered under one roof. This change of preference apparently reflects a desire for convenience and carries a lower price tag for supplemental education.

I have witnessed not only the hogwan I worked for, but also the competitors lose a lot over the past few years. I should add, the chain I worked for was among the most reputed in Daegu, if not THE most reputed. In 2010 they ran 5 campuses with a total enrolments of over 3,000. Today, there are only three campuses remaining, each operating at about 30% of capacity.
I remember needing to hire new teachers, and seeing a list my boss had from the hogwan association of all the ones that were fired from their hogwans due to closings, or falling enrolment. The contracts offered by our competitors have lost their sweetness as well, in order to cope with the situations being faced.

Things are even worse for hogwans offering Art, Music, and Martial Arts.

[ontheway]

[3DR]

The hagwon I worked for last year was. Everyone was paid late every month. When it came time for me to leave, I was pissed about not getting my last months pay and severance when he said he would give it to me. Ended up having a meeting the night before with him actually showing me his bank accounts with NOTHING in there.

I've never seen that before, but then again he wasn't all there mentally I think.

[myenglishisno]

I teach 20 students total and I see the same students everyday (I teach adults). My hagwon only seems to have a total of about 50-60 students which can't possibly be enough to pay the rent for the hagwon and pay the salaries of everyone there (me and two part timers).

It has been open for a decade and my boss doesn't seem to mind, heh.

[Hokie21]

You specifically asked "Are most Hagwons living paycheck to paycheck." IMO from my experience no I don't believe that's the case......I haven't been here long, only 10 months but I live in a big city and have met many other teachers from various hagwons and have never heard of a single complaint about being let go because their hagwon went bankrupt. I'm sure there are some but no I don't believe "most" are in that situation. I wouldn't even say the majority of them are in that situation.

Just my opinion/insight though, please don't flame me.

[Troglodyte]

[some waygug-in]

Just the poorly managed/ poorly run hagwans.

If a hagwon/chain is just scraping by, they are doing something wrong,

either over-extending themselves or not focusing on important things.


An example: I worked for a kiddie hagwon a few years back. The manager owner spoke fluent English so there were no communincation problems. The problems came about because the guy was just an incompetant, selfish, know-it-all.

When he hired me, he knew I had 3 years previous teaching experience with various hagwons. (adults and children)

At the start, he asked me a lot of questions about

books and resources and I gave him my advice.

He then proceeded to do the opposite of everything I recommended. He chose books that looked flashy, but needed a lot of expensive resources to make them
practical.

He refused to buy any of the resources, but spent money on golf clubs and expensive personal things. Then spent a ton on flashy new busses that weren't really needed.

2 years later, his hagwon was toast, and I was in the PS system,

but he knew best.

I feel sorry for his family more than him.

What amazes me about the hagwon system is how many people have no clue how to run a business.

[crescent]

[crescent]

[thegadfly]

[Julius]