If I could advise you to do anything, it would be to not accept a job at English Excel. They have no regard for the mental wellbeing of staff and the only goal is to get English speakers sent to Hong Kong to fill the teaching roles as their staff turnover is so huge.
Once I was there, I felt completely trapped and realised what a massive mistake I’d made. The penalty for leaving is £3,000 which didn’t seem like a big deal before I started because I thought how bad can it be? But it really is that bad and the thought of paying this much really does make you feel trapped and isolated, made worse by the fact that you don’t know anyone and you’re working 6 days a week so it’s hard to socialise.
The centres are dirty and old fashioned, and you are given little to no training and expected to start teaching classes straight away. You think the half days will help with the 6 day working week but they don’t because any hour spent there is so draining. There is hardly any staff working at English Excel so it’s so disorganised; it was very common for me to teach three different class levels at once, or to get a new student with zero notice that I had to come up with a lesson plan for on the spot whilst the other students were waiting to start the lesson.
Summer is the worst, they will cram in as many students as they can for maximum profit and constantly change things without any notice and just tell you to deal with it. I was beyond stressed and pleaded with management to try and help with the levels of disorganisation but was just told to get on with it and one manager even once said to me ‘do you think you might suffer with your mental health?’ Because I became upset after months of stress. The staff are gossipy and make you feel stupid for voicing any concerns, and instead of taking anything you say on will gaslight you and say ‘this is just how Hong Kong is’. This is NOT true and there are plenty of other places to work in Hong Kong that will treat you better
I’ve now left and still find it unbelievable when I think about how I travelled across the world from England to Hong Kong and arrived there was just to be absolutely thrown in at the deep end. I had no idea how to get anywhere, had no wifi in my flat so couldn’t tell my family how I was (this is common as the flats provided are poor), and couldn’t speak to anyone. It’s not worth the stress and I can guarantee you can find a better company who will actually care about you and your well being.
