The art of exploitation at its finest
Pros
Paying on time People at the branch office are friendly
Cons
Oh boy, where do we start... First of all, the company applies the 29.5 hours of work per week so that the teachers fall slightly below the full-time employment hour quota and hence don't qualify for social insurance (shakai hoken). During the induction training the company shrugs off that insurance as something not so important and generally says that the health insurance will suffice. Mind you that according to the labor union in Japan, the 29.5 hours is just a general guideline, not an iron rule - a company telling you that you don't qualify is flat-out lying. But you might be thinking "if it's only 29.5 hours per week, then at least I can leave work early and enjoy the rest of the day". Nuh-uh. The schedule is designed that way that you get split-shifts - every break (including between lessons, lunch and afternoon breaks) are considered outside of your shift, ergo you're not being paid for them. But what is it? You're asking if you can at least leave during afternoon break and do whatever you want? Think again. You are explicitly told to never leave the school premises during work hours unless you have a really good reason. I never got a clear answer to why we have to sit for extra hours if we're not getting even paid for them. The only reply I got was that those are the rules. Talk about being vague. Next thing is the utterly rubbish salary. Everything is pro-rated (even the attendance bonuses...). The rent and all loan installments (you will probably take one when moving into an apartment) are automatically deducted from the paycheck. Expect to sometimes see ridiculously low figures like 10k jpy after summer - that happened in October after we got hit by double rent deduction (rent wasn't deducted in Sep because the paycheck for Aug was almost non-existent). Luckily, I don't need to commute by train, but those who do don't get those expenses reimbursed - it's supposed to be covered by what they call the "location allowance", which is basically big chunk of our own salary. So yeah, you're sponsoring your own "benefits". Speaking of benefits, there's no such thing as a sick leave - you lose a day's worth of work from your paycheck and potentially your attendance bonus too (not 100% sure about that one, but I’m not curious enough to test it myself). The company is very tardy with replying, finding housing, finding school placement. Many promises will get broken. Phone calls not returned. Emails sometimes not answered. On the other hand, if you do something wrong, then the company will be very prompt to tell you that. Companies like that thrive because people like us - people desperate to get a Japanese visa, start our new lives in a new country - are dime a dozen. We're expendable. I'm not sure what the employee turnover rate is, but I can imagine that pretty high. There are a lot of fantastic English teachers who are not native speakers and because of that, don’t get the really nice jobs. RCS hires almost anyone because people like us aren’t in the position to complain. Lastly, RCS is a company that's been around for a long time. They know what they are doing, which is why they're still afloat. It's like speeding on the motorway, but slow enough to slip under the radar. AVOID at all cost!