Hujiang Reviews

I have worked for Hujiang teaching adults for over two years. Throughout this time I have had many concerns and grievances in which I will categorize. I think now would be a good time to express my feelings I have been restricting out of fear. In the past I submitted a negative review and was given a call by someone to delete it. It seemed a superior told this person to do so and she seemed uneasy about telling me. Correspondence: -Firstly, the staff have very poor English. The employees are literally 100% native English speakers, so this is a big issue. It seems like they don't have a deep understanding of what questions we ask because they respond in short snippets. -Teachers often communicate on WeChat with teacher support (WeChat is basically a text messaging platform for those who aren't familiar). I would understand using this form of communication when immediate issues arise during class. However, they also send important information like contract renewals this way instead of emails. When they do send emails it is usually a "big" announcement to convince teachers they work for a good company and better changes are on the horizon (they're not). For example, they say "Introducing our new referral scheme." in bright colors with cute, smiling kittens. The changes are usually downgrades to cheat teachers out of benefits. The information in these are clearly not written by a native. More often than not, it is almost incomprehensible. The wording makes it so the meaning could be construed in many different ways. How am I supposed to know what I am doing when the directions aren't clear? -Like many have said, they will respond late or not at all. It seems there are about 5-8 people working with all of the teachers. Therefore, they usually seem overwhelmed and respond in a very matter of fact fashion. They state the obvious like the teachers don't already know. It's demeaning. For example, when I said my computer had a specific issue. They didn't help resolve the issue, they just said "use another computer" like I had that option. Scheduling: -The rules are always changing. As of late, I believe they want adult schedules 3 weeks in advance. However, they said you could turn it in at least one week in advance... This is very hard for me to do as things in my life happen on a week to week basis. It seems this rule was made in coordination with their scheduling algorithm. They mentioned teachers were not getting schedules in on time, therefore causing issues in their "system." -Schedules are heavily tampered with. It is my guess that they have created an algorithm that allocates classes among teachers so there are even bookings. However, most teachers complain they don't get enough bookings. I'm not sure who is getting the hours. Perhaps they have over hired. -If for some reason they want to restrict your hours, they can. I once mentioned I felt awkward during classes. I said this because I have been critiqued so much that I feel unsure of if my performance is to their standards (more on that later). After I mentioned it, the person said I should lessen my hours. I didn't think that was reasonable so I didn't. But after that I saw a big reduction in bookings. It made me scared to share any thoughts of mine with the staff. -Students are often guaranteed the ability to book their favorite teachers. This isn't the case. Many teachers and students can't schedule classes together because I believe the algorithm isn't letting them access it. It's disappointing and unfair for both the teacher and the student. Course Material: -As others have noted, the ppts are outdated, provide awkward content, and contain awkward phrases or incorrect grammar. The role plays or "costalks" as they call them are painful. I don't think the teacher nor the student enjoys them. I have had many students say they don't like it. They're supposed to put a student in a real life situation. But instead it's really restrictive and the directions are often confusing and the student ends up reading the notes rather than putting the targeted language into a sentence themselves. -They're still conducting their most outdated lessons, ones that don't belong to their new content "HiTalk." These have god awful mistakes on them and it baffles me they can't take the time to go in and make changes to them. They're teaching the students incorrect grammar. -Their content promotes stereotypes, especially role plays. Women usually like yoga and dancing while men like basketball and swimming. The man is usually the boss and women are secretaries. American food is described as hamburgers and french fries. There is a lesson on tipping and students are made to think people in service jobs are uneducated and deserve to be paid less and that's why they're being tipped. There's a question saying which woman is more beautiful while the men are being compared by height. If you're learning a language you should be opening your mind and sensitive to other cultures. It's extremely disappointing and disheartening to be forced to teach this. -There is both British and American expressions throughout lessons. It's confusing for the student not knowing which to use. -The content seems restrictive and a lot of the role play ppts have too many activities to get through. However, they expect there to be personalized questions as to build rapport with the student. There's no time! I usually end up going over time and then the staff says I can't manage time well. Reviews: -There is a "QA" review they inconsistently give teachers. I think the reviews usually tend to score teachers down. I think they do this to discourage teachers from thinking they deserve a higher pay. -After every class students give feedback on teachers, but only Hujiang staff is allowed to see them, not the teachers. I feel it's a big obstruction of transparency. Why can't we see the opinions of our teaching? I'm not sure how I feel about this, but I have a strange reaction to it. -If students make complaints the Hujiang staff holds it in the highest regard. They say they review them to make sure they are fair, but I think they side more towards the student with a "the customer is always right" attitude. This causes a lot of anxiety for me while I conduct classes. I even sometimes worry the student is more of an enemy, looking for areas to complain about. Most students are very sweet, but I worry. -I was often reviewed in a non-constructive way. For most of the time I have worked here they only tell you what you do wrong. I rarely have confidence in my lessons. I feel I know I am a good teacher and there are plenty of students who like my class. But they give negative reviews and conflicting advice. I never know if I am performing in the manner they want me to. Often times I would become extremely anxious in class because of this. Company Attitudes Towards Teachers: -Contracts state teachers are independent contractors. I feel like I work for Uber, just a work horse to deliver the product to the customer. The rules for termination are extremely harsh. It is very easy to slip up and if you have so many punctuality issues or complaints from students you are out, regardless of how well you teach for the company. -There was a main person who communicated with the teachers. After about a year or a year and a half working here I realized she really had the teachers' backs. She would try to vouch for teachers, help them when they had mistakes without them realizing it, and was generous with the rules. This was the first English education company I worked for and in the beginning I made a lot of mistakes but she always fought to keep me in. She has since recently left the company. Afterwards, I had a student complaint and it was mentioned I will be terminated as a result. I don't feel this new person cares. -Because the rules are so harsh and expectations are so high, I feel like there's no room for teachers to experiment with teaching style or feel confident to improve. Benefits: -They're benefits "scheme" is extremely hard to reach. It's based on meritocracy, how you do among all teachers, not just based on individual performance. For example, if you are one of the top 20 teachers who scored the highest student satisfaction rate you will get $50. That's not exactly the specifics, but close. It's almost impossible to achieve, guaranteeing no bonus. There are "loyalty" bonuses that state if you work so many hours a week you can get something like $35. But I have noticed they only do it once a month when I think it should be every pay period. -I have worked there for over 2 years and have a paltry $14/hour. This is the lowest pay in the industry. They say you must score at a "superior" level for consecutive months. However, like I said earlier they tend to score down or give you an "A" rather than superior ("S") to keep you from reaching that achievement. It's unfair because teachers work really hard to improve but their pay doesn't reflect it because they are not perfect. It's totally rigged. On the "Official Hujiang Teachers" Facebook page, someone mentioned you can appeal every 6 months to be considered for a pay raise. I have never once been notified of that. If that's the case, they surely don't advertise it. -Overall here, the company is extremely stingy with their pay and benefits. They make it seem like you are getting something or have the opportunity to do so, but in reality it probably won't happen . It's a huge company and I think they're profiting handsomely and not sharing that wealth fairly with its teachers-the people that make their company. Other Comments: -Company is extremely image oriented. They even were willing to pay teachers for a positive review under the guise of "have a coffee on us," but only 50 of course. Any more would be giving out too much money. -They discourage contact with the student outside of class. Lots of students want to connect through WeChat (their main form of communication) but as teachers we could be fired for doing so. I think it's a missed opportunity out of fear. I don't think they want teachers to potentially share negative thoughts about the company. Through WeChat the company cannot monitor what is being said. It's sad because a lot of students want to meet foreigners and create relationships so they can practice or know more about life and cultures, something that we don't have time to get to in class. -At times it really does feel like I am living in communist China. They want to monitor everything you do and collect data about you in which they will not share. There is no transparency about the way the company is run, the way the students learn, nothing. -Each month they share the best teachers in certain areas based on numeric scores. For me, this creates a sense of competition rather than community and often makes teachers feel like they're not good enough in comparison to others. -Once, they said I should download an app on my computer that would allow them to access it so they could find any technical errors. This was a privacy concern for me. -I have worked at this company for over 2 years. That's longer than a lot of the Hujiang staff. When I start working at a company I want to be loyal to them and give them everything I have. I have put countless amounts of energy and time to improve, to meet the standards, to be the best teacher and employee I can. This time in my life has been an investment in the company. I am disappointed that all the effort will be cut off by these straightforward and harsh rules without consideration of anything else. Maybe it's best to move on to another company. I think a better quality of life will be ahead of me with another employer.