Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Alias77]

I've been working for the same company for several years now under the same boss. We had a great relationship. However, he left the company two months ago and has moved overseas.

The new manager, a busy body, is trying to institute new policies that are really making me angry. My specific final straw is that this manager wants all teachers to send an e-mail when they arrive and also when they leave the school. She is also trying to push back the arrival time for teachers, semi-insisting that we should arrive earlier. It feels like criminal monitoring and I don't like it. I also think it's a joke to monitor arrival/depature via email in the age of smartphones. If there's a problem, it should be up to the Korean worker to inform the management and have it dealt with.

I have checked my contract and there is nothing in it about the arrival time to work. I feel I should arrive a little early out of courtesy to my co-worker, but that it doesn't need to be regimented or monitored. I also see absolutely no point in arriving up to 30 minutes early, when the single computer is under constant use by the co-worker. I end up fending off swarms of kids crawling all over me and begging for attention, which can be exhausting and I need my patience to be fully charged for the youngest classes. I think 10~15 minutes is by far sufficiently early arrival time and that's the way it's been for years.

I would like very much to have a confrontation with the new manager and explain that I am extremely unhappy with attempts to shift policy when everything was running smoothly before. I feel that I have met my obligations and been a diligent employee. After years of working with the same materials and people, this is first time I've ever been so angry with the company that I almost feel like quitting.

So, in review, with no mention of arrival times or anything further in my contract, how much legal ground do I have to reject this policy? Anyone have any suggestions about handling this? I just don't think it's ok to screw up a nice place to work in the name of showing off for upper management.

[Stan Rogers]

He's the boss. You are the employee. What is so difficult about knowing your role in such a relationship?

Unhappy employees quit jobs all the time. You can too.

[ttompatz]

With nothing in the contract and nothing in violation of labor law you don't have a leg to stand on in a confrontation.

Your options are to suck it up, stand up and say no (and hope you don't soon get fired) or move on to greener pastures without further prodding.

Pick one.

.

[Alias77]

But, if there's nothing in the contract, how can they enforce this? It was just a verbal agreement to begin with. That's the part I don't feel is ok. If it wasn't spelled out in the contract, how can they ask me to do this with any ability to enforce it? I mean, according to the contract language, it's extremely murky that there is any justifiable reason they could fire me. I meet all the conditions of every detailed section.

Is my position that indefensible?

If I was an hourly wage worker, I think I would have to accept policy changes or shove off...Is there nothing about the contract stipulations for a job spelling out my responsibilities being significant here?

[newchamp]

[Porksta]

I have to scan my fingerprint when I enter/exit work. Who cares about having to send an email?

[CP]

You can talk to the manager about it and see what can be done. If nothing then you have 3 choices.

1. Finish out your contract and then leave for a new position then.

2. Quit now.

3. Accept new policies and work there as an angry employee.

[some waygug-in]

Is the new boss demanding you come in earlier or just asking for the email?


If it's the former, it's an extra 15 mins/ day, it's not the end of the world.

If it's the latter, it's an email, so what?

Your post isn't quite clear on what is being asked of you.

[Weigookin74]

Not sure what's fully expected of you? But, in the west, sometimes new managers come in and they change everything. Happened once in Korea and a couple of times in the west to me too.

You assert yourself and hope to reach some mutually acceptable compromise or you move on to greener pastures as Ttompatz said. It really depends on how reasonable and rational the other party is. Sometimes they are and sometimes they aren't. I can only speak to my own personality and say I don't like being micromanaged. I do my job and work diligently. When I stop getting results, then get on me. Till then, leave me alone.

Some bosses can be real d-bags in this regard and shouldn't be in management positions. Everybody ends up quitting and eventually the manager gets canned, forced out, demoted, etc. (Occasionally, they stay, especially if it's a government employer. Less focus on numbers, recruitment and profitablity, I guess.)

[Julius]

[tob55]

Assuming the promotion of the new boss came from within you have limited options. 1) figure out how to work with the new person, 2) attempt to negotiate some workabnle solution to the new requests being made, or 3) begin looking for a new job and chalk your current situation up to experience you have gained.

Working in the Korean workplace requires people to understand that the protocol and system is much different person to person, so it is something that must be dealt with in a thoughful manner. Too bad the OP is having problems, but there are more jobs out in the field. Good luck.

[ttompatz]

[Stan Rogers]

[WadRUG'naDoo]

Sounds like a hagwon. I usually had the daily start and finish times in my contract. One I had for three years was 2-9 PM.

[nicwr2002]

Changing the arrival time to 30 minutes earlier is the only problem you have? Really, just come in that extra 30 minutes. This is really nothing to squabble over. Most schools have you come in at least 30 minutes to an hour early, so you've had it really easy.