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G.Education Threatens Instructors

Towards the end of January, the contents of stating that instructors who were absent from work stood to lose their jobs.

The bits that got everyone's attention were these three points:

1. No absences will be accepted from this point onwards.

2. In the case of absence due to unavoidable reasons such as poor health, the absence must be reported by the instructor directly to the branch, not the Foreign Personnel Section.

3. When the above rules are not followed, I will issue a letter of non-continuation of employment.

According to the GComm NOVA blog, it appears that g.education has emailed its instructors a note similar to the fax threatening termination if they are absent. Here's the email as posted on the GComm Nova blog:

To all NOVA instructors,

Having re-opened the branches succeeded from the previous NOVA, we have started lessons and have received words of gratitude from former NOVA students. New enrolments are also increasing each day.

However, over the past few days complaints from NOVA students about instructor absenteeism have been reported to G.education Head Office. These complaints include comments like:

“Frequent cancellation of classes due to instructors’ absenteeism has disappointed us because we had higher expectations of the new NOVA.”

“In the past NOVA cancelled a lot of lessons so our lesson package expired with many lessons left. We want you to ensure the same thing doesn’t happen again.”

On looking into records of lesson cancellations, over a one-month period more than 3000 hours of NOVA lessons were cancelled due to instructor absences. At this point in NOVA’s revitalization we can not lapse into the same situation as the public is closely observing how NOVA performs. For the company to prosper we need to avoid disappointing students at all costs.

As a result, from today the following rules are implemented:

* No absenteeism will be permitted.
* In unavoidable circumstances, such as poor health, instructors should continue to contact Foreign Personnel by the established deadlines.

If you are unable to meet these expectations, it may not be possible to continue your employment
with G.education.

We trust that you have a thorough understanding of the current situation and thank you for your cooperation.

Takashi Ono C.E.O
G.education Co., Ltd.

* This document has been produced to inform you of company policy and is being sent to all NOVA instructors.

Let me get this right: If you're late or you're ill, you stand to be fired or not have your contract renewed? G.education has had trouble opening schools, and screwed over instructors last Christmas by reneging on its promise to hire them, and now threatens its employees? I thought g.education was trying to revive Nova, not drive a stake through its heart.

How does G.education claim "instructor absenteeism" is a problem with it has teachers sitting at home on standby? If lessons are being canceled, why not call in those instructors? I wonder if this a problem of g.communication opening new schools where the instructors aren't?

If the company needs "to avoid disappointing students at all costs," how about not disappointing the instructors, first? They are the product after all.

This is madness. I fail to see why anyone would consider staying on with this company any longer.

Japan: 
stupidity
employment
g.communication
Eikaiwa: 
Naked Theft

Comments

It really is incredible. I am temporarily employed by these guys, but just until I land my next job, which should be only another few months. I know most others are plotting their departure. It is amazing to see the house of cards rebuilt worse than before.

Bye bye, G-Comm!!!!!

Ha! I told you all, didn't I?
I see the dark anvil-shaped clouds passing across the horizon, engulfing us in all in their spectral darkness..... this has been written in the cards and on the wind..........

Translation provided by FP:

I fuckin told yous all, didn't I? But did you risten? No! No! And now look what's happened. G-farkin-Comm jumped in, usurped me from my lightful lole in the scheme of things, glabbed onto the leins and steered the fuckin plocession over a criff.

Now, if I'd been at the herm..... (muffled sound of a ranting man being bundled away).

Nozzie Sahashi

If G Ed are serious about getting reliable instructors, how about offering instructors stable employment with a pay rise system instead of threatening them with dismissal? G Ed aren't new to the eikaiwa game and should have known the probability of teachers calling in sick or coming late or not showing up at all.

In my case I'm just working until June or so and then heading home. There's no way I'd call G Ed a job with any future.

what a load of bollocks in the area i work which has few schools no one has been absent. what the hell is this 3000 hours of NOVA lessons? why dont they just take the people off standy so the schools arnt understaffed like they are now, schedules are almost full so people as going to have problems booking in like the good old nova. im guessing thats why students are pissed.

im shocked. i truely am. i know people just want to roll with it til they they leave in april, may, june 2009, whatever. but why? i know back home stuff doesnt kick off till september but if i hadnt found a job i would have gone straight home. icould have found something to do. why wait til june? thats another 5 months pay you are goig to have to worry about!
i dont know how to express this properly but WHY are you there????
maybe im just dum. please explain to me why people stay with gcum!

Say what now?

I've given up trying to understand how wealthy businessmen in Japan keep companies running. It truly IS amazing. How/why do investors continue to invest in these sinking ships? How in the hell do they stay afloat? Why do employees and customers alike continue to allow themselves to be abused?

People in Japan are pretty tolerant.

Will any company here ever realize that happy employees make happy customers! Yes, the secret to success is really that simple. It's so simple, easy to remember, but apparently impossible to comprehend.

The first company to genially respect its employees in all areas will overtake the language industry in heartbeat. With an enthusiastic group of staff and teachers, a good curriculum--not one centered on in-house materials--real teaching, learning, working, fun or whatever will finally begin.

...but I don't see that ever happening here...shame, really!

Hideo Sugimoto replaced Takashi Ono. What's happening at G. Education...
——————————————–
ＮＯＶＡ譲渡先社長が交代　グループ企業の焼肉屋さかい会長

ジー・コミュニケーション（名古屋市）は４日、子会社でＮＯＶＡの英会話教室事業を引き継いだジー・エデュケーション（同市）の社長に、グループ企業焼肉屋さかい（同市）会長の杉本英雄氏（４５）が１日付で就任したと発表した。小野誉之社長（４３）は代表権のある副社長となった。

経営再建に実績のある杉本氏を社長に据え、ＮＯＶＡ事業のてこ入れを図る。杉本氏は、さかい会長を同日付で辞任。

杉本　英雄氏立命館大卒。ベンチャー・リンク取締役などを経て０４年７月ジー・コミュニケーション社長。０７年５月に退任し同年６月から焼肉屋さかい会長。大津市出身。

（共同）
http://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/s/article/2008020401000646.html

its fair enough in this country...if you miss work because you slept in after an all nighter...stiff shit...you should lose your job...especially if there is a great number of teachers waiting on standby......... Most G. comm\Nova teachers are in Japan for a short period of time...they dont really give a fuck about a career in teaching english...just wanna party ..meet lots of people...then go home. Of course there is nothing wrong with this....in fact i think its great! If your serious about the job you have nothing to worry about because you turn up every day on time...right? I cant understand what the fuss is about...its the same in every company..play by the rules and you are ok! If the customer is complaining about the service ...of course management need to give a warning....whats the problem here?

Under Nova foreigners received special treatment. Now G comm is levelling the playing field and foreigners are being treated no different from Japanese. Concepts like fairness, legality even honesty are out the window. We didn't have it in Nova but we were at least close enough we could talk about it. Now, under G. comm, it's laughable!

But what about the students? I just found out they have to sign a document giving up any rights to money they've already paid if they want to take lessons at a discount. They are being asked to do it every month. If the branch closes or moves they are sh%t out of luck. I suppose it must be illegal; It certainly wouldn't stand up in any court in North America.

In my humble opinion G. comm are the exterminators. The government looked around and noticed a pest problem (i.e. too many unemployed foreigners running around) and hired G.comm to get rid of them! Nobody cares how the job is done; it's dirty work but it has to be done!

It happens rarely, but in some places it'll happen at least once a year that trains are delayed or cancelled due to an accident (someone got hit by a train). What will happen then? Even if I get an explanatory note from the station confirming the train delays, will I still get the sack?

I think most companies in Japan would be accommodating of being late in such circumstances. If any Nova instructors encounter this situation please write about the outcome.

Agreed. It appears there was a third "dark hourse" player in all this. I think you guessed who it is.

How does G Com get away with this? Because of all the teachers that let them. All of you who did not jump ship when the company first started sinking. All those of you that clung to the bitter end. All those of you that waited to see if anyone would bail that piece of shit out and laughed at those sensible enough to have left. Well you were right weren't you? G Com is getting away with this bullshit because the remaining instructors are letting them. Those that remain are the truly gutless that never ventured and as a result didn't gain a new job. Nobody was going to hand it to you but had you used a little foresight and action you would have been a hell of a lot better off. If I was G Com management I would fuck all the instructors as much as I wanted because judging from your past actions you won't do shit about it. Fuck your rhetoric and do something about it!

Umm, looking at how that email is worded, it's not a heck of a lot different than one would expect...

That doesn't say if you're sick and have to call in you'll get canned, it's saying if you no-show for work, you'll get canned. That's not unreasonable. A no-call no-show is grounds to get fired just about anywhere. So is calling in sick regularly, you know, like once a week like so many do. So they've asked you to call the branch to report your absence, big deal? If you still worked at your grocery store back home, you wouldn't call HQ to report an illness would you? No, you'd call your store and tell them. Same diff.

Absenteeism is repeatedly failing to come to work, e.g. everyone that calls in sick with a hangover every Sunday. Oh, shit, you poor little party monster, you can't get away with it anymore, what ever will you do? When I was doing my time in the Nova grinder I got sick of people pulling that shit too, I'd have canned them as well.

This isn't about you legitimately getting sick and having to worry about losing your job, not that you should still be working there anymore but whatever. It's about the fuckoffs who are, and probably rightfully so at this point, not giving a shit and calling in sick whenever they don't feel like going to work, cause it sucks. Not that I don't empathize with treating a shit job like a shit job, but, if they're trying to make an attempt at salvaging the company, that's what they ought to do.

And whoever gets fired, or quits because of it, is one fewer liability they have to worry about. My guess is this won't screw anyone that didn't have it coming. Then again, anyone still there has it coming one way or another, so, whatever.

While it's been entertaining to watch the mighty a$$holes-in-suits(who for some reason seem smug despite the fact I make the same salary that they do)go from Charisma Man to teaching-lessons-for-handjobs in a park in Japan.
I must also say either: die, get another job, or go back home.
This whole- whoa is me shit has got to go.
Do me wrong once, and shame on me.
Do me wrong twice, and shame on them.

GET ON WITH IT ALREADY you nova idiots.

This is a perfect chance for everyone to pull a few sickies, get the sack and start claiming benefits for 3 months. May sound sly but hey the government knew fine well what it was doing to Nova when it applied the new sanctions. They played a large part in creating this problem, they should deal with it!

If you do the math, "3000 cancelled lesson hours" works out to about 2 cancelled lessons per G.Com branch per week.

Definitely not the crisis G.Com claims, and just as likely caused by G.Com's OWN scheduling screw ups rather than a wave of drunken absenteeism. But blaming your gaijin staff for company woes is always a good way to built company spirit, inn'it?

[Though I hope it's a wave of teachers skipping work and going to job interviews.]

2 cancelled lessons a week is not much. Especially since it's winter and colds and flu are spreading around. I personally know some teachers that caught the flu, and another who got injured so couldn't teach.
G.Com would know full well that the solution to this problem is to HIRE MORE INSTRUCTORS, so if one is absent there's a greater chance that his/her classes can be merged in with other classes.
It's all up to G.Com really. If they keep blaming instructors then they will still have the same problem.

Re: "whats the problem here?" the problem is that you don't seem to understand how the labor laws of Japan...or wherever else people work as opposed to being exploited by where they work...operate.

If you get the flu, the mumps, the friggin clap, it doesn't matter -- you should have the right to call in for a sick day without having to drag your flu-, mump- or clap-ridden self to the doctor to get a note for your employer to prove what ails you at pain of being fired. Unless you've been working for Darth Sack on planet Sack'you for the past decade, you should know this. You should also know that in eikaiwa, you are shafted in that any time there's a public holiday, a death in the family, a time of personal stress -- any time that any man-jack salaryman is allowed off from his job -- you will be working and/or making up for if you took any time off, because the G-man told you to.

Like the sound of these working conditions? Excellent, you're working for the right company! Me, I'm taking the three-day weekend.

well said Shiisa...

Most G. Comm teachers are in Japan for a short time, because people like G. Com give them such atrocious work conditions, they don’t want to work for them, for anything but a short time, and yeah, party time is up in that work sector, because people tend to drown themselves in alcohol to wash away the insanity and creepy crawling feeling caused by working as a freak exhibit for an exploitative con-merchant freak show outfit like G Comm.

“Uggh, wash me down, I can’t believe I do this for a living, this place is whacky, and my employer is so creepy....Uggh”

I suppose people like you want a new rule introduced into labor law, like this:

“In industries where work conditions and the job are so ridiculous, resulting in after hours alcohol consumption being above average, regardless of any excuse, such as verified illness, death in the family, typhoon, or a blizzard, absenteeism will be dealt with by instant dismissal"

You might want to think about applying the rule to every damn job in "live to work" Japan, by the way.

Play by the rules? What rules! Oh, that’s right, the substandard, below Japanese labor law in-house rules that con-merchant language burger flipping outfits write for their gaigin scum work force.

“It is the same in most companies” – in most companies, they follow the law, in fact, so, wrong again. EFL Burger Flipping gigs - different story.

As a matter of fact, I don’t know how you can even call those filthy money up front extortionist rental shell parasite freak show outfits “companies” to begin with.

They are an abomination, and what they do, is an abomination.

Is there any word about ever getting paid for Sept. and Oct. 2007?

G.comm seems to be worse than NOVA. I worked for NOVA but I didn't move on to G.comm. But I can understand that some guys just had no other choice. Have been living in JP for about 7 years. My advice to all you guys still working for G.comm: If you wanna stay in JP, try to improve your Japanese, leave G.comm as soon as possible, think about a job outside the Eikaiwa industry. Einkaiwa had it coming. This type of industry will disappear in Japan sooner or later. Being a native speaker of whatever language, all it means that you can open your mouth. But that ain't good enough any more.
... however staying in JP might become more and mroe appealing as the YEN is getting stronger day by day (could be of especially good for US guys, 1 USD used to cost about JPY 120, soon it'll be down to JPY 90, you'll get more than 30% more USD for the same YEN amount)

Has anybody actually noiced that the JP government punished NOVA but the taxpayer had to pay a lot for that (dole money plus replacement money for us and whatever else there may be).

Punishing the old NOVA was certainly a good thing to do, but the kind of punishment turned out to be most unfortunate. That's why they had get this G.comm Saviour to get out of it somehow.

If monekeys could laugh, one of them would most certainly do so.

By the way, intimitating people because they call in sick, that's weird.

One last tip: If you are a woman and somehow become pregnant, don't resign! If you do you'd be on your own! If not, they have to give you 1 whole year maternity leave. During that time you will receive about 30 or 40% of your salary from the 'unemployment insurance' (KOYO HOKEN), not the 'employe health insurance. Plus by law you cannot be fired during maternity leave. So after being one year on maternity leave, you could then just resign if you wanted to, having received some dough for a whoe year. That's not illegal and many Japanese women do it actually this way.

Didn't you get that 80% replacement money? I got mine about 2 weeks ago.

uhm..not in ANY way certain...but wasnt the wage protection law..really a form of insurance that companies paid into?

if so..the taxpayers arent exactly on the hook for it..

same with the UI...if we pay INTO it..and I did for 5 years...i think i got out of it far less than I put it..

just thinking out loud..i am in no way an expert in japanese corporate law..anyone agree, disagree..?

i think you got it backwards..

Fool me once..shame on YOU,

Fool me twice..shame on ME.

unless..you are doing some kinda wacky backwards word screw-up thing that I cant understand..cuz i am stupid..

i may BE stupid..but I know the phrase goes YOU first, ME second.

Canadajin, I completely agree...

You are in no way an expert in Japanese corporate law.

ho....heh heheh ..

ahhhh..

you suck.

Paid my UI for I'm not sure how long, come next month though I'll only be getting crumbs from it thanks to G Turd keeping me on stand-by at 60% for so long though. but I suppose that's "fair" in some people's eyes.

say it with an elongated eeee

WEEEEEEEasels!

what is G-Cum Zombie Nova actually like?...do they use that damn Diplomat book?..it must be funny to work there with all these former big-wig cunts doing lessons now...

forcing that grin on their faces..

pretending that "this is all ok..really..i enjoy teaching again, after 5 years of being a corporate cocksucker"

clenched teeth grin..

well..at least you still make those big bucks.

you fucking cunts.

every BT, AT, AM, RAAM, AH, SB (AssHole, ScumBag)

I hope you are eating a big pile of hot shit each and every day you continue to exist in this country for being a motherfucking puppet to that fucking asshole Usagi.

I am kicking myself for not telling Lars Overfueher..Anders Headroom whatever the fuck, that he was a miserable ass-bandit when I had the chance.

Guess the indoctrination was still too ingrained.

I wont fuck it up next time.

Christ... get over it.

Langslave, are you sure about that UI? I went in last week to Hello Work and was told that I could start collecting UI immediately from March 31st! My situation may be a little different from yours as I collected for a few weeks in November after the collapse until the restart. Then I worked until mid-January when I went on standby.

-------------------

What better way to get over it than to sit back with a bottle of Mad Dog and howl away on the blogs rattling everyone's chains and watching the sparks fly! There's a full moon tonight so let's bite those arogant bastards! Werewolves of London - Awoooooooohhhh!

hey canadajin,

of course you're going to fuck it up next time.

why? because you, like your ugly bedfellow (no pun intended) langslave, are a fuckup!

plain and simple.

hindsight (no pun intended) is 20/20, hey?

nothing points to "indoctrination" more than your oh-so-run-of-the-mill philosophizing, or the ceaselessly mundane and generally senseless vitriol you and langslave spew!

your persecution complexes are very boring!

armchair revolutionaries are boring!

the unoriginality of your thinking is boring!

homophobic rants are boring! (as the "cocksuckingassbanditetc" neuroses of homophobes is revealing!)

your writing is excee(with elongated eeees)dingly boring!

why don't you get off your uptight, indoctrinated, lily white, frightened asses (pun intended) and do something more productive than merely threatening to "stick it to the man" -- as the real badasses (with no pun intended) used to say?

i guess everyone sucks when you're christ on a crutch, right?

still, you could show some compassion and hobble over the water just to give the rest of we sinners (of all persuasions) a little peace.

Im scum..

Hate me daddy!

ahem..

yeah..i was just reminded of all the times they screwed us..and screwed newbies into coming here when they fucking knew that they were going down...so yeah..full moon..get over it..blah blah blah ...sorry we cant all be perfect.

perfect little know-it-all tin-pot turds like you.

no, no its ok..dont worry..fuck you too.

no no really!! fuck you.

Who rattled your cage? Been sitting at home seething over your keyboard? Where would you like us to vent? How about here like you just did? How do you know whether I'm "sitting on my uptight, indoctrinated, lily white, frightened" arse or not? And in regards to what, do you feel, I'm doing this? Sorry if we bore you too, didn't realise we were here to entertain you but here's one for ya...fella works into a bar..CLANG!..IRON bar! An oldy but a goody. That less boring and more entertaining for ya?
Persecution complex? If by that you mean having been lied to about salaries by our employer, then not paid by said employer, then being lied to by our "saviour", then fired for no good reason while said "saviour" advertises for new employees, then finding that said "saviour" had not been paying our Unemployment Insurance payments to the government as required by law while however deducting them from our (reduced to 60%) salaries, I would call that more of a justifiable grievance, wouldn't you? Though perhaps you were referring to something else? Feel free to clarify if I'm mistaken.
B.T.W. I didn't know Canadians said "gob", interesting.

I haven't been to Hello Work yet but, as I understand it, your UI payment is based on an average of your salary over the last 6 months. So, if I'd gone straight to UI after the bankruptcy I'd get more than I will after having been on 60% stand-by for most of the time since then. At least that's my understanding anyway, though I'm quite prepared to be (happily) proven wrong. Cheers for the info anyway.

I worked for NOVA in Tokyo for three years from 2005-2008. When I look back on it, there were some folks who were absent without any good excuses - maybe partying too much the night before, etc. There were not too many of those people.

Let's face it, everybody gets sick from time to time. In the three years I worked for NOVA, I missed only a few days due to illness. Got a very bad cold one time, which lasted for about 4 days. I didn't want to lose any extra days because of loss of revenue. I think that this alone is a very compelling reason for people not to abuse the system. Nobody can afford to be sick anyway.

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