Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jewelz]

My boss said I have to take my 14 vacation days on the last day of each month during the calendar year. She said, "we cant get a sub", etc. b/c it is a really small school. She has been very kind and supportive but I thought I could take a nice long break some time.
I can not really argue with her but I did say I want to try to take days off that are close to the weekends.

[Ya-ta Boy]

The general Korean conception of a vacation is a couple of days where they go back home and see mom or maybe spend a day at a 'condo' at the beach after driving for 6 hours.

Flying for 15 hours just to get inside your national boundaries before you transfer to another flight that gets you within a few hours driving time of your family just does not compute. Wanting to get away for a week or two is not really within the realm of daily reality for Koreans. Extended periods of not working only come when you are on your honeymoon. This may explain why the divorce and remarriage rate is so high now. It's the only way to get a week off work.

You are butting your head against a deeply in-grained cultural tradition. You are your job.

Good luck changing it.

[Missile Command Kid]

In my humble opinion, this issue probably should have been brought up during contract negotations. As far as I know, there's no Korean law dealing with how vacation days are allocated. What I would do is explain that, in Western cultures, it's expected that vacation time is allocated in chunks of time (1 or 2 weeks) rather than parceled out at a rate of one per month. Perhaps that will help her to understand where you're coming from.

If it just won't work, then gracefully say that, although it goes against what you would like, you'll be willing to take one for the team. The next time something like this happens again, gracefully pull it out of your hat and mention that you caved on this issue, so would you mind caving on this one?

[Grotto]

Something to negotiate in your next contract.

First year my days were spread throughout the year....a day off when it was the owners birthday, wedding anniversary....and the rest thrown in here and there.

Second year I was 'supposed' to be able to schedule my own holidays but they tried to screw me out of them....after a long hardfought battle I got my holidays.

Third year I was in GEPIK and got my holidays in winter and summer.

[antoniothegreat]

what does your contract say?

[Son Deureo!]

Your contract may not say anything about it, but doling out your vacation days one day at a time on a random day of the week is BS. You didn't come all the way to Korea in order to spend a year without a proper vacation. Explain this fact to your boss, and offer to find a sub yourself if need be.

If he won't work with you, I'd go to the mat over that. In fact, I had to go to the mat over that (among other issues) at my first hogwon.

[PRagic]

Congratulations. Now you know why nobody wants to work at a hakwon! Live and learn. Try for a better deal the next time around, or, better yet, try to get away from hakwons totally.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[PRagic]

Are you working at an institute? Doesn't sound like it! They max their hours during the summer/winter.