Pros
-The pay is easily the best reason to work and World Family and it is probably the reason why it will take a long time for the company to face any consequence or reaction to their illegal hiring practices. It starts out close to 4,000 yen an hour and goes up either 50 or 100 yen per class each year you work there should management deem you worthy of a raise. There is a pay cap; three raises of 100 yen per hour are the limit. -The other teachers and staff. This can also be a con depending on where and with whom you work, but for the most part there are some very good teachers to learn from and some great full time staff employed here, although more and more veteran teachers are leaving each year (some even during the term) and more staff are being letting go as the company cuts costs. Starting April 2018, assistants will be let go, and teachers will be on their own even with young students. -Lots of (unpaid) time off. 42 weeks of work per year, which means you get 10 weeks of holidays per year. However, the vacation time is unpaid. Although teachers' work hours are calculated and divided between the 12 months of the year to give teachers a more consistent paycheck, do not be fooled. You aren't paid for your vacations. You are only paid for the hours you work. -Well stocked classrooms and a set curriculum. The classrooms have tons of pre-made props for you to use during your lessons and it helps cut down on prep time for teachers immensely. Depending on the area, the props are generally well organized. The curriculums, while not perfect, are generally easy to work with and consistent from year to year. All the teacher needs to do is develop activities to go along with the pre-set language points. -Great locations. Most classrooms are in a building very close to a main train stations. -Occasional opportunities to teach extra lessons for extra cash on Sundays or public holidays.
Cons
-Illegal hiring practices. The company hires teachers as "independent contractors", but everything in their job descriptions (from the required uniforms to the predetermined lesson plans and materials) actually fall under the heading of "employees." The company saves a lot of money by hiring teachers as independent contractors instead of employees because contracted teachers are not entitled to paid vacations, or any type of benefits (pension, health insurance, or unemployment insurance). Every year the contracts become more and more strict and the teachers can do nothing to combat this because they aren't unionized or considered employees. Were a group of World Family teachers to contact the General Union, it's possible that action could be taken to remedy a lot of the illegal practices. -Increasing micromanagement. Slowly but surely over the years, the company has been doing its best to standardize classes. There are now cameras in every classroom, so the trainers in Tokyo can watch and scrutinize every lesson. Every feedback session is mostly negative and all the positive aspects are glossed over very quickly. Because the lesson plans are predetermined, any teacher not sticking exactly to the timing and outline of the class is generally rebuked. Teachers with larger than average classes or teachers with special needs students are not given any leeway. They must stick to the lesson plan exactly, and unfortunately the curriculum has it's downfalls. There is intense pressure for every lesson to be perfect. -Increasing workloads and demands on time. Years ago, teachers were given 19 classes a week. Now they are given 18 classes plus 3 hours of "training” each week. Class pay is around 4,000. Training pay is only 1,000. Training may occur during random periods in the week and the teacher is expected to make themselves available for mini meetings or observations even if they have other work or private lessons scheduled during that time. All of the training is mostly busy work. Perhaps it's helpful for first-year teachers but it quickly becomes repetitive and unnecessary after teaching with the company for more than a year. Meetings have increased in frequency and are largely uninformative and filled with busy work in order to reach the 5 hour quota. Training is sometimes scheduled during regular times off, so it becomes difficult to schedule any private lessons or other appointments. -Poor management. The management from Tokyo are very passive aggressive, and focused on "professionalism." They changed the dress code halfway through the year, but refused to admit that they had done so. Rather, they gaslit employees and told them that they had been "confused" about what the dress code was. They let go quality employees for "unprofessional" behavior but didn't specify what it was they had done or give them any warnings. These were highly respected teachers with good track records who were suddenly left without a job after years and years with the company, and were replaced with incompetent teachers. Management treats teachers who question changes as threats or troublemakers, when oftentimes they are passionate about improving the curriculum and making classes better. With increased pressure from Tokyo many teachers have quit halfway through their contracts in recent years. The condescension and suspicion teachers are treated with is very demotivating. -NO SICK DAYS. Any sick days are scrutinized by the management. Teachers with pneumonia have been sent to work. Teachers have vomited in their classes because they were forced to work sick. Teachers with no voices are often bullied into not calling in sick. Mostly this is because the company guarantees its students the same teacher the whole year through, but also it's because it costs the company money for teachers to call in sick. Management doesn't hire cover teachers when areas are left without any coverage and recently there have been many canceled classes due to the lack of coverage. Management has been expecting its teachers to work sick, but this is simply unsustainable. -No benefits or job security. The salary seems high, but remember to factor in the fact that teachers have to pay for their own insurance and pension, and have no employment insurance. Contract renewals are not necessarily given to high quality teachers, but rather to the teachers who don’t cause any “trouble” or damage the ego of management by asking questions. Recently all Japanese assistants were told they won't have a job next year because the company is cutting costs. These are people who have been working with the company for over a decade in some cases. -No upward mobility. The most a foreign teacher can hope for is a trainer position. These are not necessarily given to teachers with seniority or even the most skilled teachers, but instead are given to those who never questions changes or who seem the most benign. Even trainers are not treated with much more respect than teachers. Trainers start off at 330,000 a month, which isn't really that much more than a teacher makes.