Does anyone have any information about this dispatch company or work/ed for them: EST Ltd.? All I can find out is they dispatch teachers to private schools in and around Tokyo.
EST was formed when a previous dispatch company in Tokyo that supplied teachers to private schools brought in new management in the middle of 2018 and forced out the old management/office team (four Japanese staff). The new management had no idea what they were doing. A large number of the client schools were unhappy with the changes at the dispatch company and decided to abandon ship and to not renew their contracts for the new school year in 2019. The management team that had been forced out got word of this from the schools themselves and three members from the old management/office staff started a new dispatch company taking on over half of the contracts from the previous company. I worked for both the previous company and EST until I quit and moved on to greener pastures last year.
Good points:
– EST offered jobs to all the teachers affected in the switchover and kept the same contract and salary conditions.
– Pay is/was decent and EST will enroll you in shakai hoken if you work 30 hours or more a week (caveat: according to their calculations).
– These are not ALT positions. A lot of them are solo-teaching positions, and for team-teaching positions, you are a co-teacher not an ALT.
– Long spring, summer, and winter breaks at full pay.
– Lots of materials, resources, activities for junior-level English Conversation courses.
– They don’t try to nickel and dime you: if you’re sick for a day or two, have a doctor’s appointment, need to go to immigration, have a legitimate emergency, etc., they won’t deduct from your pay. If you’re sick for longer than a day or two, they may expect a doctor’s note, but they’ll continue to pay you (caveat: not sure in the case of a long-term illness).
– If you’re daily hours are set for a certain amount of time, for example, from 8:15 to 16:15, you’re paid for the whole time minus lunch break (caveat: you’re paid less for “desk time” than “lesson time”; see bad points)
– Teachers who are contracted on a per-lesson basis (paid for lesson time only), only need to be there for their lessons, not for a specified time, and they don’t need to go to school on non-instructional days but still get paid
– If you’re looking for five-days-a-week work, they’ll do their best to accommodate you by offering you a paid on-call day(s) where you’ll be called in to substitute teach if needed on days where you’re not contracted to be at a specific school.
– The management staff is very kind and can be very accommodating for some cases (caveat: see bad points below)
Bad points:
– There are very few full-time positions or semi full-time positions (thirty hours or more a week), in most cases, simply because the schools don’t contract for them. Of course, a bonus for the company is they don’t need to enroll you in shakai hoken because of this.
– You’ll most likely work at two schools during the week (maybe three) to get enough hours or you’ll have at least one paid on-call day where you will act as a substitute teacher.
– I have a sneaking suspicion that new hires are not paid at the same rate as teachers who switched over from the original company despite EST maintaining the same conditions with the client schools from when they took over.
– The management seems to play favorites with some of the “old guard” teachers offering them special deals.
– Senior-level courses are not generally English Conversation lessons. They’re usually more specialized, academic courses. Other than a textbook, the company and the schools have very few resources for these courses, and you’re basically thrown to the wolves and expected to develop your own curriculum with little help and support (despite promises of help and support).
– If you’re at a school where you’re being paid on a per-lesson basis only, your pay and hours worked are based solely on the lesson time. For example, if you have five 50-minute lessons in a day, it’s not considered five hours of work (300 minutes). It’s considered 250 minutes (4.16 hours).
– If you’re paid on a per-lesson basis and there is a spare lesson or lessons between your last lesson and your next one, you’re not paid for it. It’s basically unpaid desk-warming. Technically, you’re free to do what you want or leave the school, but it is wasted time.
– If you’re paid on a per-lesson basis and you’re teaching a course requiring a lot of prep and marking, which is often the case for some of the senior-level courses, you’re expected to do it in your unpaid free time in the evenings or on weekends. This is a carryover problem from when it was still the previous company. For some courses, this isn’t just the odd extra hour every now and again. It’s sometimes several hours of extra unpaid work a week on an ongoing basis. They have a number of pat excuses as to why they think this isn’t really an issue. However, if you’re teaching a similarly demanding course at a school where you’re contracted to be there for the whole day, you can use your paid “desk-duty” to plan and do marking. It’s not really a fair system.
– At schools where you’re paid to be there for the whole day, your “desk-time” pay is less than half of your lesson-time pay.
– In the contract, they offer pay in lieu or a day off in lieu for working on a non-scheduled work day, for example on a weekend or national holiday for open campuses, special events, summer camps, etc., but if you try to ask them for the extra pay or a day off in lieu, they will tell you it doesn’t pertain to you. Their reason being is your working on a non-scheduled workday is in exchange for all the extra paid time off during the spring, summer, and winter breaks. However, because under the law, you are considered a part-time worker and therefore may have other part-time work with a different employer falling on the weekend (and even if you don’t), you can refuse to work. Of course, they won’t admit to this, but if you refuse, they give up if you hold your ground.
– They have arbitrarily set official paid holidays for X number of days in August and X number of days in December/January depending on your work schedule. To be fair you get far more paid time off over and above official paid holidays, but it is completely illegal for them to assign all your official paid holidays to some semi-specified time periods in the summer and winter. Another thing they won’t admit to and don’t want you to know.
– There seems to be a bad habit, which is a carryover from the ways of the old company, to purposely withhold important information from you, especially changes to contract conditions and scheduling for the new school year, until it’s too late for negotiation or anything to be done about it. You’re basically forced to agree to it because you have no other option. In some cases, it’s because the schools were dragging their feet, but in other cases, things have been decided in advance and you’re the last to know because what has been decided is not to your benefit.
– The management staff is very kind and can be very accommodating for some cases. While oftentimes genuine, there is sometimes also a level of duplicity behind this kindness as they “ask for your cooperation and understanding.”
A little late to the party but here’s my two yen. Throckmorton11 is pretty much spot on in his critique of this company, but I can’t see them in quite the same forgiving light. The company is “allegedly” in violation of a number of labor laws. However, the teachers are by and large either unaware of their rights or they have grown complacent because of the decent wages (at least for the teachers who came over from the previous company) and because of the long spring, summer, and winter vacations at full pay.
“Alleged” violations…Hmm…where to start? To elaborate on the points Throckmorton raised, teachers paid on a per-lesson rate are not paid for any planning, prep, or marking although this is considered de facto work under the labor code. The company will claim that the per-lesson rate includes payment for these things. This, however, is another violation as the rate of pay for any work done outside of the lesson time has to be stated specifically and separately from the per-lesson rate (this has been verified with a visit to the labor office, contract in hand when it was the previous company). What else? Teachers official paid holidays have been completely allotted to certain times of the year. They have no freedom to use any of their paid time off at their leisure. And, no, teachers have not entered into any kind of agreement signed off on by a majority-elected representative from the teaching staff agreeing to this. Nonetheless, even if such an agreement were in place, teachers would still have five days to use at will, which they don’t. Another violation…Teachers may be required to work on their official/regular days off for special events, etc. for no pay and no day off in lieu because “they get lots of time off in the vacation periods” (the go-to company excuse). Nope, not legal. The majority if not all of the teachers are part time and may have other jobs on their days off. They can’t be expected to come in and work for free, jeopardizing any other possible employment. Anything else? Sketchily worded terms to define employment status so the company (and the schools) can skirt or completely ignore the dispatch law thus allowing schools to avoid hiring teachers directly after three years. And good luck getting them to put you on shakai hoken. Even if you’re stuck at school all day with a full slate of lessons (something that no direct-hire teacher is ever subject to), if you’re being paid on a per-lesson basis, only your exact lesson time will be used in calculating your work hours although the time between lessons is de facto working time.
All of this coupled with “alleged” gaslighting management and willfully ignorant and complacent teachers makes it no different than any other educational dispatch company. Whether they deal with ALTs or teachers, they’re all the same.
4 comments
Whenever I see a post titled “does anyone have any information on X company?”, the answer is never good
Their website indicates only one position open for HR back in February.
https://est-support.jp/node/97
EST was formed when a previous dispatch company in Tokyo that supplied teachers to private schools brought in new management in the middle of 2018 and forced out the old management/office team (four Japanese staff). The new management had no idea what they were doing. A large number of the client schools were unhappy with the changes at the dispatch company and decided to abandon ship and to not renew their contracts for the new school year in 2019. The management team that had been forced out got word of this from the schools themselves and three members from the old management/office staff started a new dispatch company taking on over half of the contracts from the previous company. I worked for both the previous company and EST until I quit and moved on to greener pastures last year.
Good points:
– EST offered jobs to all the teachers affected in the switchover and kept the same contract and salary conditions.
– Pay is/was decent and EST will enroll you in shakai hoken if you work 30 hours or more a week (caveat: according to their calculations).
– These are not ALT positions. A lot of them are solo-teaching positions, and for team-teaching positions, you are a co-teacher not an ALT.
– Long spring, summer, and winter breaks at full pay.
– Lots of materials, resources, activities for junior-level English Conversation courses.
– They don’t try to nickel and dime you: if you’re sick for a day or two, have a doctor’s appointment, need to go to immigration, have a legitimate emergency, etc., they won’t deduct from your pay. If you’re sick for longer than a day or two, they may expect a doctor’s note, but they’ll continue to pay you (caveat: not sure in the case of a long-term illness).
– If you’re daily hours are set for a certain amount of time, for example, from 8:15 to 16:15, you’re paid for the whole time minus lunch break (caveat: you’re paid less for “desk time” than “lesson time”; see bad points)
– Teachers who are contracted on a per-lesson basis (paid for lesson time only), only need to be there for their lessons, not for a specified time, and they don’t need to go to school on non-instructional days but still get paid
– If you’re looking for five-days-a-week work, they’ll do their best to accommodate you by offering you a paid on-call day(s) where you’ll be called in to substitute teach if needed on days where you’re not contracted to be at a specific school.
– The management staff is very kind and can be very accommodating for some cases (caveat: see bad points below)
Bad points:
– There are very few full-time positions or semi full-time positions (thirty hours or more a week), in most cases, simply because the schools don’t contract for them. Of course, a bonus for the company is they don’t need to enroll you in shakai hoken because of this.
– You’ll most likely work at two schools during the week (maybe three) to get enough hours or you’ll have at least one paid on-call day where you will act as a substitute teacher.
– I have a sneaking suspicion that new hires are not paid at the same rate as teachers who switched over from the original company despite EST maintaining the same conditions with the client schools from when they took over.
– The management seems to play favorites with some of the “old guard” teachers offering them special deals.
– Senior-level courses are not generally English Conversation lessons. They’re usually more specialized, academic courses. Other than a textbook, the company and the schools have very few resources for these courses, and you’re basically thrown to the wolves and expected to develop your own curriculum with little help and support (despite promises of help and support).
– If you’re at a school where you’re being paid on a per-lesson basis only, your pay and hours worked are based solely on the lesson time. For example, if you have five 50-minute lessons in a day, it’s not considered five hours of work (300 minutes). It’s considered 250 minutes (4.16 hours).
– If you’re paid on a per-lesson basis and there is a spare lesson or lessons between your last lesson and your next one, you’re not paid for it. It’s basically unpaid desk-warming. Technically, you’re free to do what you want or leave the school, but it is wasted time.
– If you’re paid on a per-lesson basis and you’re teaching a course requiring a lot of prep and marking, which is often the case for some of the senior-level courses, you’re expected to do it in your unpaid free time in the evenings or on weekends. This is a carryover problem from when it was still the previous company. For some courses, this isn’t just the odd extra hour every now and again. It’s sometimes several hours of extra unpaid work a week on an ongoing basis. They have a number of pat excuses as to why they think this isn’t really an issue. However, if you’re teaching a similarly demanding course at a school where you’re contracted to be there for the whole day, you can use your paid “desk-duty” to plan and do marking. It’s not really a fair system.
– At schools where you’re paid to be there for the whole day, your “desk-time” pay is less than half of your lesson-time pay.
– In the contract, they offer pay in lieu or a day off in lieu for working on a non-scheduled work day, for example on a weekend or national holiday for open campuses, special events, summer camps, etc., but if you try to ask them for the extra pay or a day off in lieu, they will tell you it doesn’t pertain to you. Their reason being is your working on a non-scheduled workday is in exchange for all the extra paid time off during the spring, summer, and winter breaks. However, because under the law, you are considered a part-time worker and therefore may have other part-time work with a different employer falling on the weekend (and even if you don’t), you can refuse to work. Of course, they won’t admit to this, but if you refuse, they give up if you hold your ground.
– They have arbitrarily set official paid holidays for X number of days in August and X number of days in December/January depending on your work schedule. To be fair you get far more paid time off over and above official paid holidays, but it is completely illegal for them to assign all your official paid holidays to some semi-specified time periods in the summer and winter. Another thing they won’t admit to and don’t want you to know.
– There seems to be a bad habit, which is a carryover from the ways of the old company, to purposely withhold important information from you, especially changes to contract conditions and scheduling for the new school year, until it’s too late for negotiation or anything to be done about it. You’re basically forced to agree to it because you have no other option. In some cases, it’s because the schools were dragging their feet, but in other cases, things have been decided in advance and you’re the last to know because what has been decided is not to your benefit.
– The management staff is very kind and can be very accommodating for some cases. While oftentimes genuine, there is sometimes also a level of duplicity behind this kindness as they “ask for your cooperation and understanding.”
A little late to the party but here’s my two yen. Throckmorton11 is pretty much spot on in his critique of this company, but I can’t see them in quite the same forgiving light. The company is “allegedly” in violation of a number of labor laws. However, the teachers are by and large either unaware of their rights or they have grown complacent because of the decent wages (at least for the teachers who came over from the previous company) and because of the long spring, summer, and winter vacations at full pay.
“Alleged” violations…Hmm…where to start? To elaborate on the points Throckmorton raised, teachers paid on a per-lesson rate are not paid for any planning, prep, or marking although this is considered de facto work under the labor code. The company will claim that the per-lesson rate includes payment for these things. This, however, is another violation as the rate of pay for any work done outside of the lesson time has to be stated specifically and separately from the per-lesson rate (this has been verified with a visit to the labor office, contract in hand when it was the previous company). What else? Teachers official paid holidays have been completely allotted to certain times of the year. They have no freedom to use any of their paid time off at their leisure. And, no, teachers have not entered into any kind of agreement signed off on by a majority-elected representative from the teaching staff agreeing to this. Nonetheless, even if such an agreement were in place, teachers would still have five days to use at will, which they don’t. Another violation…Teachers may be required to work on their official/regular days off for special events, etc. for no pay and no day off in lieu because “they get lots of time off in the vacation periods” (the go-to company excuse). Nope, not legal. The majority if not all of the teachers are part time and may have other jobs on their days off. They can’t be expected to come in and work for free, jeopardizing any other possible employment. Anything else? Sketchily worded terms to define employment status so the company (and the schools) can skirt or completely ignore the dispatch law thus allowing schools to avoid hiring teachers directly after three years. And good luck getting them to put you on shakai hoken. Even if you’re stuck at school all day with a full slate of lessons (something that no direct-hire teacher is ever subject to), if you’re being paid on a per-lesson basis, only your exact lesson time will be used in calculating your work hours although the time between lessons is de facto working time.
All of this coupled with “alleged” gaslighting management and willfully ignorant and complacent teachers makes it no different than any other educational dispatch company. Whether they deal with ALTs or teachers, they’re all the same.