Pros
When considering joining a global education company, prospective employees often fall into two camps. Either you consider yourself as a “serious” teacher and worry that the corporate nature of the organisation would mean that profit and sales are prioritised over education quality, or the temptation of a stable job with an inflated salary is just too good an opportunity to turn down. EF (Education First) are/were neither of these things. Joining EF was more akin to joining one of those weird religious cults. One where the promise of authenticity, development and meaning trumped all the potential negatives and after a relatively short period of time the brainwashing kicked in and we believed we were part of a family, we were guided by the core values that make up the very foundations of EF, we offered the very best courses to our students, we meant business, and we were here to stay. And, you know what? We were happy. We accepted a lower-than-average salary, because EF would look after us, EF would give us the best training the industry had to offer, EF cared about us, EF would provide us with stability, a career path, and even equal opportunities. EF believed in team building, both locally and nationally, EF had cool incentives if you helped sales. And so, I signed up, way back in 2013. Teaching adults English with EF proved to be rewarding on so many levels, Proactive management provided, regularly updated teaching materials, comprehensive training, the opportunity to gain real qualifications (CertTesol, DipTesol, DELTM) all paid for by EF. Being part of a global family, they sponsored the Olympics, have their own cycling team, provided opportunities to volunteer (teaching hearing impaired children, training rural teachers in China, visiting the school they built in rural Nepal after an earthquake destroyed the old one), there were local, regional and national competitions, high profile marketing, it really made you proud to be a part of it. EF cared about their students, it was constantly asking for feedback and centre KPIs were based on NPS returns. We had teacher forums, manager’s forums and were encouraged to take things to the next level, be creative, and to innovate all for the benefit of EF. Teacher’s performance was managed by teaching indices along with student feedback. As a manager we were always on the lookout for potential superstars. All was well, life was good, it was like being married to the company, but in a good way. When you marry, it is accepted that the road ahead is not always smooth and so it was with most companies when Covid 19 hit the world. But like good husbands and wives we pulled together, I still find it amazing that in a matter of weeks we had trained and equipped the entirety of offline teachers in China to teach online from home. We created not only classes, but activities and forums to keep our students active, as well as engaged throughout the lockdown and beyond. EF supported us, they paid us throughout this period unlike some other companies. EF asked the teachers to help with online sales, which we did, unreservedly. So, when it was time to re-open, we were ready to go immediately
Cons
“In sickness and in health” applies to both husband and wife, or in this case employer and employees. And unfortunately, nothing lasts forever, things were about to change in a big way, and none of us were prepared or protected. A new leader was announced, her remit was to turn the business around, an aim, which at the time, everyone supported, but within eighteen months everything was unravelling. I guess the writing was on the wall right from the beginning. Each centre has four managers, I was the education manager. As the new leader toured the country two things became apparent, firstly the education managers were ignored, not invited to meet her either in the centre or to join the inevitable welcome dinner afterwards, and secondly, she had a script, anyone who questioned her ideas was rapidly silenced. The next step was to remove the highly experienced education management team at the national and regional level and to replace it with a new inexperienced team that were unlikely to present any disagreement with the leadership. It was not long afterwards that the EF core values began to disappear. Surprisingly, practice classes (as opposed to regular “teaching” classes) where it was encouraged that the teachers create their own activities were removed and replaced with formulaic and badly planned pre-prepared classes. Any avenue for teacher creativity was blocked and as the weeks progressed communications between management were not just lacking, but actively discouraged. Weeks, not days passed when every attempt I made to talk to my fellow centre managers were thwarted as they physically ran away. I subsequently discovered that this was due to a regional directive, education managers should be excluded from all meetings. In order to announce the demise of the western region, all managers, except education, were taken to a five star hotel in Xi’an where the primary topic for discussion was nothing related to how the impact of these closures could be minimised for the staff, but simply focused on vague promises that could be made to students and how long they could extend their contracts in order to minimise refund requests. The staff, previously lauded as the very foundation of the company, were to be cut adrift. Chinese employment law is very clear on how redundancies are to be compensated, but the continuing policy of avoiding any form of communication just added to the confusion, distrust, and dismay from all sides. Termination notices were issued by Shanghai and sent without explanation. Staff were told to sign or risk losing everything. The trouble was that most of these notices contained errors, and without pointing fingers, I can truthfully say that I never saw one that was erring on the side of the employee. As a team manager I sat down with everyone and relayed the errors back down the chain of command, usually resulting in the employee left in limbo and frustration. Remember, this is an international corporation, undergoing a restructure. It is not a company heading into administration. Everything good, everything positive, everything we valued about this company gone. When the managers returned from their final “jolly” to Xi’an and held centre meetings to announce the closures, the meetings were 50% what to tell the students and 50% “look at the amazing new stuff we can do for our online clients” and 0% about the attendees of the meeting. For me the final straw, the one thing that killed all feelings of nostalgia was the way EF dealt with its foreign employees, which was by not paying them any severance pay (contrary to Chinese law) and refusing to discuss it at all. Explain to me the rationale for such a racist policy, why pay 98% of the staff severance and exclude the foreigners? The foreigners who had bought in to the dream, who planned to be there long term, to build a life and career around EF. The foreigners who helped sell EF’s product now not only have to find a new job but struggle financially over the summer before starting a new job in September. They will of course be forced to find a legal representative to begin the process of retrieving what is legally theirs. EF follow true to form by refusing to communicate, hoping the problem will go away. I began my journey in July 2013, I was given notice in April 2022, I finished work in June 2022 and my case for arbitration is scheduled for October 2022. Are you looking to join the international ESL community and are thinking of joining EF? Please take my advice, you are 4 years too late, think twice, and explore other avenues. You are a highly trained professional and deserve to be treated as one.