Pros
This review is for the EF China Franchise. Prior to Covid, and more specifically prior to China's 'Double Reduction' policy, EF was actually a fairly decent place to work. The work culture was fairly relaxed and the co-workers were fun (although as a male you'll experience a lot of social ostracization from the mostly female staff). You were paid regularly and timely, which for China is a boon, and they did put at least a bit of effort towards training you.
Cons
Where to begin. Prior to Double Reduction my biggest gripes were the long hours, relatively low pay (especially at the beginning), and the lack of seriousness directed towards foreign staff well being. Seriously, the HR person at my center always seemed to be some random person who was told to perform HR functions in addition to their regular duties and who clearly didn't care or want to assist the foreign staff in any way. You basically had to rely upon your Chinese friends to aid you with anything and everything, even serious things related to banking or utility bills. Oh, and they never provided the promised Chinese lessons. But it's the events surrounding my termination which I want to focus on. In short, this company robbed me of roughly Y100,000 RMB or $15,000 USD. Following Covid we faced a severe foreign staff and EF offered me a contract with a Y40,000 RMB completion bonus in addition to Y500 rmb overtime for teaching classes on your off days. Even though I was lukewarm about the company at that point, I accepted figuring the money was good and I already knew the job. Then, late April, I was suddenly informed by EF management that due to the double reduction policy initiated 9-MONTHS PRIOR they would not be honoring any of their contract obligations. Not only did I not get the Y40,000 RMB bonus, they artificially cut my contract short a month so as to avoid paying me my severance pay (despite initially saying they would honor the contract till August, but once they realized my contract ended in August they decided July was the better month), and they changed my pay from after-tax to pre-tax, reducing my salary by about Y3,000 a month which they even had the audacity to LIE TO ME ABOUT by claiming that I could reclaim the money when I leave China. In order to ensure compliance they threatened me with arbitrary termination (or whatever 'ending on bad terms' is supposed to mean) and the other foreign staff they threatened with withholding their papers so that they could not gain lawful employment elsewhere in China, which is ILLEGAL. Oh, they also ILLEGALLY did not pay into my pension fund which I only found out when I left China and tried to reclaim it. That's another Y40,000-ishs RMB down the drain. And to add insult to injury, they also did not pay for any of the overtime classes that I ALREADY TAUGHT for the previous month. That's another Y6,000 RMB out of my wallet and into theirs. But I guess that's how EF thought it was appropriate to thank me for all my extra effort during these trying times. And, because that wasn't enough, they also tried to weasel out of not paying my last month salary and I had to basically barge into their office and threaten to call the cops to receive my pay. But hey, at least we didn't end on bad terms. This is all despite the fact that we were routinely reassured by management that money had been put aside for our bonuses and that our contracts were guaranteed. I even offered to enter into contract renegotiation when the government first announced their double reduction policy, but was told it was not necessary because it was 'a done deal'. But hey, at least they were able to pay for all that marketing and new hiring they did as we left. It was 'the best of both worlds' as I was told. Every time I look at the calendar I just get furious knowing that this was the week I should've gotten $15,000 from this job and have spent the last year looking forward to.
