I received an email from NOVA regarding a special salary offer they have for former instructors.
Here’s the offer:
“300,000 yen paid per month for 12 months (Conditions apply: see below) 400,000 paid on completion of the one-year agreement
40 lessons a week / 5 days a week
Conditions:
No additional incentives, allowances or benefits apply.
All expenses must be borne by the individual.
The agreement is conditional on maintaining an average of 6.0 or higher in the customer satisfaction surveys.
Deductions from the amounts above will be made for scheduled lessons not taught due to absence.
The agreement cannot be extended or renewed.
This offer is open to former instructors currently living in Japan with a valid work visa.
This offer is limited to those who start their contract between 2021/8/1 and 2021/10/15.”
I personally only lasted 5 months at NOVA before I noped out due to boredom, being pushed to sell things I didn’t believe in, and work-life imbalance, but given that the offer is nearly double my ALT salary, I’m tempted.
Any thoughts?
17 comments
One year offer. So after that year they go back to a shit contract.
Fuck em. They are desperate. Let them sink.
“No additional bonuses or incentives apply”
That’s basically saying none of things that make their salary remotely sustainable are going to be given. Coupled with the deductions for fewer lessons (ie cancellations from students) that offer doesn’t sound very good.
They can just lie about satisfaction of customer to be less than 6.0 to not give you the amount. You must read the conditional. They also don’t pay transport or social for 40 hour week? Hell naw.
How likely can they claim your lessons fall below a 6.0 rating?
How much are they going to deduct for genuine sick days?
I wonder if you can reply with a counter offer, eg. You are interested but need sick days protected.
These are factors I would consider.
One week you will have 39 lessons and that will void your bonus agreement.
I feel like there are enough opportunities to screw you in that offer to be suspicious. Not that every company is looking to screw you, but I would put NOVA on that list.
I wouldn’t risk it.
As soon as the borders open up and fresh cheap labour arrives in Japan, Nova will do its utmost to make your life miserable. Bad evaluations, transfer you to the middle of nowhere, change your days off and also Nova can force you to work up to 14 extra days on your days off, otherwise, you will incur penalties.
My advice is to stay faaaaaaar away!!
Are you fucking kidding Me? How much?
Those are full time hours, so they must offer pension and health insurance contributions, along with paid vacation days. And that means they cannot deduct from your salary if the lesson isn’t booked, or if you take a sick day.
Also, I imagine that they will have all kinds of conditions on this offer that will make it hard for you to actually reach the promised amount, and/or they’ll find ways to make other deductions. You can also expect a fucked up schedule, since no doubt you’ll be running from school to school to cover lessons as needed.
They have always been a dishonest piece of shit company, and always will be.
So, for one year, they will offer the salary that they paid when I first came to Japan with Nova back in the Saruhashi days 18 years ago but with worse benefits? Smells of so much desperation.
No travel expenses and definitely going to put you on an ‘independent contractor’ so you get no benefits either. No thanks.
>40 lessons a week / 5 days a week
that will never happen, forget about that bonus
Hey, look can you give us a screen shot or something? Need evidence.
I love the smell of desperation in the morning. Let them sink.
> Any thoughts?
It’s probably just about the best rate you’re gonna get from an eikaiwa. However, it reads to me like (for example) they’re not gonna pay for your transport and you could quite easily have your pay reduced if you’re one of the less popular instructors. Is the satisfaction scale outta 10? (In which case I wouldn’t be too worried).
Meh… sounds like an okay deal if you’re in the eikaiwa business and you’re looking to stay for another 12 months.
Problem is sounds like they’re not gonna pay for your transportation, you’ll be an independent contractor so you won’t get any benefits, and it’s only for one year. It sounds like you wouldn’t be able to do more than that anyway personally LOL. Better to get private students to supplement your income now. I get 5000 to ¥6000 an hour for free conversation
Just curious, how does NOVA even work? Is it a base salary + an amount you get from lessons? If there is a base salary at all, what is it?