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Salaries and Benefits for ESL Jobs In Korea
At Footprints Recruiting our prime parameter when considering schools in Korea to work with is that they offer a positive working environment and a fair market salary. We will do our best to place you in a good school in the area where you want to teach - an extra hundred dollars a month isn’t much when you loathe going to work every day. Over 95% of Footprints teachers have completed, or are in the process of completing their one year contracts.
All contracts will include the following:
- FREE HOUSING: single or shared
- SALARY: 1.9-2.8 million Won (1.9 is the MINIMUM for 30 hours)
- FREE AIRFARE: reimbursed on arrival or paid up front by school
- ONE MONTH SEVERANCE: you will receive 1 month salary for each year of teaching service - this is mandated by Korean law.
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Teaching Salaries in Korea
I've seen other salaries offered and they're higher. Why can't you get me something like that?
When something looks too good to be true, it usually is. There are several factors at work in this case.
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Salaries at private language institutes, or hagwons, as they are known in Korean, typically range from 1.9 to 2.2 million won per month. For the current value of the Korean won in your currency, visit: Universal Currency Converter
Your starting salary will depend on a number of factors- mainly your experience as a teacher and the location of the school.
Since the cost of living is higher in major cities, particularly Seoul, salaries tend to be slightly higher here as well. An average starting salary in Seoul is 2.0 million won per month.
If you choose to teach in a small town, you can expect your starting salary to be lower per month but really onlt by about 100,000 Won - or about $100USD. Because of the difference in cost of living, you could save the same amount of money in either location.
Although this may not seem like a terribly high salary compared to what you may earn back home consider this: since your flight to Korea is paid for, your housing is paid for (except for utility bills), and total monthly deductions for medical coverage and taxes will only be around 7% of your salary, your only out pocket expenses will be food, transportation and entertainment. Lucky for you, the subway in Seoul costs less than a dollar and taxis are much cheaper than in the United States and Canada as well. Without working much overtime, you can comfortably save USD $10,000 in a year. |
Higher salaries for a much higher number of base working hours per week or month.
This is great if you don’t want any free time and you have as much energy as a used car salesman on amphetamines, but most people tend to burn out teaching above 30 hours per week. It takes tremendous energy and concentration to be an effective teacher - and remember for every hour you spend in the classroom, most teachers spend half an hour planning and correcting homework. If you sign a contract with one of our schools, they will normally be happy to give you overtime if you ask which will often raise your salary to a sum higher than what is being offered by that other school, the difference is that in a contract with the other school you are locked into working a very high number of hours.
Although the base salary may be higher - the amount they deduct for security deposits, taxes, and even rent mitigate the higher wage
Other schools simply advertise higher wages and have no intention of ever fulfilling the contract.
Newly opened schools sometimes offer higher than-usual-salaries in an effort to get started.
They do this because they don't have a reputation and often this is the only way a teacher will come. This could cause huge problems in the future. If you do happen to sign with a newly opening school there might be delays for you to start, which means delays for you to leave, which means costs to you. Also, a new school will often hire all "fresh off the boat" teachers which simply means mayhem. Consider also that newly opened schools are usually disorganized and require a lot more administrative work from teachers.
Schools with high staff turn over may offer higher salaries to keep teachers and attract them... beware.
- Established, reliable schools will often pay slightly less because they have less turn over and because they are organized enough to know market rates and can keep teachers.
Remember, once you are in Korea and have a visa to teach at a school it is extremely difficult to change schools without your employer’s permission. Unscrupulous school owners realize this and take advantage of this- and few foreigners have the time, money and linguistic ability to fight them in court.
Salaries are almost always paid monthly. This is true everywhere in Asia. Paydays range from the last day of the month worked to the 15th day of the following month. Your payday will be clearly stated in your contract.
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Overtime
Most contracts will state that you are required to teach a set number of hours per week, usually 25-30. For any additional teaching hours you will be paid overtime- usually Korean Won 15,000 to 20,000 per hour. Most contracts will state that the school can not force you to work more than a certain number of hours per week including overtime (usually 35-40). Your overtime will be added to your monthly paycheck, and taxed at the same rate. If you are keen to earn more than your base pay, most schools will be happy to provide you with extra classes if you wish. However, we suggest that you don’t let dollar signs blind you during your first few months in Korea - give yourself some time to adjust to living in a new culture, teaching ESL and eating kimchi (fermented cabbage) for breakfast before teaching 60 hours a week. Years down the road, you will remember the experiences you had and people you met abroad, not the amount of money you earned in a given month.
Overtime conditions vary from school to school, depending on the season, the reliability of your co-workers, and the intensity of the school owner's desire to make money. August and January are the two months when Korean public schools are closed and are always the busiest months for hakwons in Korea. Most schools schedule extra classes or special programs. Overtime is almost inevitable during these two months.
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Airfare
All schools we work with offer air transport to and from Korea as part of their standard contracts. Most of the time the school will ask you to get a one-way ticket to Korea (which they will reimburse you on shortly after you arrive) and then at the end of your teaching contract they will provide you with a one-way return ticket or the equivalent sum so that you can apply it to a flight where ever you wish. Round-tip tickets are only valid for one year so if a teacher extends his/her contract, the school has to buy another ticket. Footprints works with UniGlobe Specialty Travel in Vancouver. Book your ticket to Korea here: UniGlobe Specialty Travel
Tickets are either electronic or are sent by Fedex around a week before departure.
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Severance Pay aka Bonus
Article 28 of Korean labor law states,
“(Retirement Allowance System)
(1) The employer will establish a retirement allowance system so that not less than thirty days average wages for each consecutive year of employment will be paid as a retirement allowance to a worker who has retired. This shall not apply to a worker who was employed less than a period of one year. (Penal Provisions, Chapter XII, Article 110: Violators shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than two years or a fine not exceeding ten million won.)”
Thus, if you sign a one year contract your employer is required to give you one month of pay as a at the end of your year of employment. Many schools call this a ‘bonus’- but this is really a misnomer- schools are required by law to do so. In effect, the school is paying you 13 months salary for 12 months of work- having an extra paycheck in your pocket to put towards your student loans (or a massage in Thailand) certainly isn’t a bad thing.
Periods beyond one year of employment, are pro-rated. Eighteen months employment = a bonus of 1.5 x monthly salary. No severance payment is required for periods of employment less than one year.
Teachers are often worried about not receiving severance pay. In fact, a few schools try to avoid paying this severance. If this is the case you can contact the local immigration department and they will contact your school directly and will force this payment. If you are fired before completing your 1 year contract and you feel you were unjustly dismissed you can also contact the local immigration department and they will look into matters. No school director in his or her right mind would want to create a situation with immigration. Random checks at schools and delayed visa checks are a nightmare for school directors.
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Medical Insurance
All English schools in Korea are required to provide their teachers with medical coverage for the duration of their contract. Normally the school will pay for half of your coverage and half the cost of your coverage will be deducted from your salary on a monthly basis. The cost for teachers for their medical coverage is typically 1.7% of your monthly salary.
IMPORTANT: your medical insurance will not start until you have your "Alien Residence Card". This is initiated immediately after you arrive but can take 2 weeks to 3 months to finalize. Footprints strongly recommends that you get at least 3 months travel medical insurance before you go. Perhaps this can be a going away present for you.
When you first get to Korea with your E-2 visa, your school director or owner will bring you to the regional immigration office in order to register for your Foreign Registration Certificate, also known as your "Alien Residence Card". This is your legal identification within the country of Korea. In order to register for your Foreign Registration Certificate, you must apply in person at the regional immigration office. You will be fingerprinted and the cost to register is 10,000 Korean Won (USD 8.50). Your medical coverage won’t start until you receive your Foreign Registration Certificate, which usually takes a couple of weeks to process. You may want to purchase a temporary travel insurance policy to cover your initial period of sojourn in Korea, until your government provided insurance takes effect. The insurance provided by the school will cover basic medical and emergency dental necessities, but will not cover cosmetic surgery or dental work, or optical care. Pre-existing conditions- (for example depression or MS) are also not covered under this plan. If you feel more comfortable going to a doctor that speaks English there are several Foreign Clinics and hospitals with English speaking staff in Seoul that accept the national insurance plan (the plan in which you will be enrolled), however you may want to call first to make sure.
There are opportunities for the schools to get private medical insurance but this can be quite expensive.
Neither kind of insurance is effective until after your residency in Korea has been processed, usually 2-4 weeks after arrival. We advise that all teachers buy travel insurance with medical coverage for 30-45 days following arrival in Korea. Common travel insurance that includes medical coverage can be a liability. If the insurance policy does not permit you to "work" you could lose the coverage because because you will be working. You need ex-pat medical insurance.
Footprints has sourced the best providers of travel insurance when they head over so they have the option of being covered before their medical insurance in Korea starts and teachers can
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Sick Days
Koreans generally do not take time off from work for being ill. However, exceptions can be made for foreigners, and contracts often include 3 days annual sick leave. It is important to recognize that these are not extra days to be taken off. If you call in sick you will often be visited by your employer who, in their concern and empathy, will drive you to the hospital (not a pleasant place to be). If you are not at your residence or if you stink of the previous night's events they are not going to be pleased.
Since your co-workers are automatically the often-unwilling recipients of your classes if you call in sick, it's not a good idea to do so unless you really are sick. Hangovers, or just having a bad day, won't be acceptable excuses for missing teaching to either coworkers or management.
Legally, for any sick day taken, your employer can deduct a day's salary unless you present an official note from a doctor. In practice, most employers don't ask for this note unless someone has been absent for more than one day or has a history of one-day illnesses.
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Emergency Leave
Some contracts make provisions for one week of emergency leave in the event of a death, or life-threatening illness/injury, of a family member. Even if this is not in a contract, any Korean employer will typically give you a week off (as long as you have demonstrated that you are a good teacher); it's a better option than losing an employee. This leave is unpaid and may require some sort of proof of the situation.
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Dismissal or Resignation
Of course, you can leave Korea any time you wish if you are unhappy with your job or feel that you made the wrong decision in going abroad to teach. Generally, voluntary resignation results in loss of the severance payment and the loss of air transportation home. It can also involve repayment of your air to Korea and the loss of your housing deposit and reimbursement for the recruiting fee the school paid to get you there. Some schools may also try to withhold some of your wages. School management will, in the vast majority of cases, follow the contract in this area if you follow it by giving the required amount of notice (30 or 60 days) and if you are cooperative in the interim.
The sudden departure of a teacher costs a school director anywhere from US$2000 - US$5000 in lost business, hiring costs, and any lost transportation costs. Bear this in mind if you find yourself thinking about leaving without proper notice. If you leave early and/or leave on bad terms with your boss, you may find it very difficult to get another job in Korea the following year or even two or three years later. The more reputable and desirable a language school is to work for, the more likely it is that they'll call your previous Korean employer or even worse, your director can contact immigration and can make sure you are not in the country and that you are not eligible for another teaching visa until damages are reimbursed or until your working visa with the original employer terminates. *Note that all standard E2 teaching visas are for 1 year terms.
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