This guide mainly applies in an educational context, but can be extrapolated for almost all Japanese workplace environments. It's full of generalities of course and mainly applies to a workplace that consists of mostly Japanese employees. If your workplace is very international, then this guide might not apply.
1) Never Say Die
Don't take sick leave, and don't take vacations. Stay late at work often, and talk to your co-workers about how tired you are. Also, participate in everything optional (i.e. sports festivals, school festivals, speeches given by VIPs that you can't understand, etc). Yes, it will involve giving up your weekends and evenings, but participating in events and activities in your workplace show that you are committed to your job.
2) Don't complain.
If your situation is miserable and you hate your job, this is a tough one, but Japanese almost never complain and neither should you. If you absolutely must complain about something, make sure you speak to a Japanese co-worker and get their advice on the best way to go about doing it. Obviously you can complain about harassment and so on.
3) Retro Up!
Act like you are from an episode of Leave It To Beaver. Japanese value cheerful optimism, cooperation, friendliness, thankfulness, and a purity (i.e. sexual purity) of dress and comportment (short skirts are oddly an exception). Don't believe me? Just read their manga or watch their movies/dramas. The messages in these portrayals of society are always someone who triumphs over adversity by being cheerful, moral, and hardworking. Your role-model is now Jane Eyre. The younger generation is changing, but the younger generation isn't going to be the people interview, hiring, supervising and working together with you at the moment. It's still old-school here.
4) Ask for permission
Especially when you are starting out, you will not know the workplace culture. Make sure you ask for permission to do almost everything out of the ordinary, even if it seems harmless to you. Want to have a class outside on a nice day? Ask permission. Want to make a website for your students online? Ask permission. Want to use an unoccupied room covered in ten years of undisturbed dust? Yes, you've got it - ask permission.
5) Give away some glory
Make suggestions to your sempai. This is tough to do as it involves your sempai (co-worker above you in rank) getting credit for all your ideas, but as a junior worker it is not your place to offer constructive criticism. Once you have worked for a few years, then you can make suggestions at meetings. Until then, if you want to make a suggestion, then make it to a co-worker and ask them to suggest it for you.
Showing posts with label workplace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label workplace. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
The Japanese University Workplace
Some people have asked me about working in a Japanese university and what that entails. Here is a description of the kinds of working conditions you can expect in a Japanese-university workplace.
Part-time Work
Working part-time at a university in Japan is great. If you can teach more than 8 koma (90 min) a week, your pay is pretty good for not much work and little to no responsibility. The average pay for 1 koma is about 10000yen, or somewhere around 100 USD or 75 Euros. If you have at least eight of those a week, that makes for a weekly pay of 80000 yen for 12 hours of (official) at the school work. Of course there is always class prep and marking and you won't be paid for that as those hours are included in your 10000yen per koma. This puts you in an annual income of just under 4 million yen per year, which is very decent pay for Japan.
The downsides to working part-time are that you have no input into any changes in your department, nor will you generally even be consulted by the full-time teachers unless you have a close working relationship with them. This is more disadvantageous for some people than others. Some individuals really care about improving the level of education at the school, and some people care mostly for their own students. If you are the kind of person who likes to make a difference in your workplace, part-time work might be tough for you.
Finally, you don't get any benefits, bonuses, research money, and you can't apply for most grants. You will probably not have a private office, and your computer/printer may be ancient. However, the biggest negatives are that your salary will never increase and you have no job security.
Full-time Work
Just like part-time work at a university, full-time work is a mixed bag of good and bad points. The main negative is pay vs. responsibilities and work hours. You will often start off making less than a part-timer would with a lot more responsibility. You will work at least 40 hours a week. Most teachers have on average 6-7 classes per week with language teachers often having more. Beware of any institution that has you teaching more than 12 classes per week, this is an unfair course load.
The average starting salary for a full-time university teacher varies so widely it is hard to give accurate numbers. It can be as little as 250000 (equivalent to a cram school teacher), or up to 480000 yen per month. Private schools will tend to pay less than public schools and lower-ranking schools (i.e. not famous or distinguished academically) will pay even less. However, these low-ranking schools are good entry jobs and may be more lenient in their hiring practices. Maximum salaries also vary with each institution.
Full-time university teachers get all standard benefits offered including health insurance, sick leave and holidays. Your salary will increase over time and most universities give you bonuses twice yearly. Also, you may have much greater job security usually with the possibility of tenure, although this depends on your institution and if they employ discriminatory-hiring practices for foreign employees. You will often get a yearly amount of money to spend on research and trips to conferences. You will also often get subsidised housing, dependent allowance, as well as a private office.
A big difference between full-time and part-time teachers is the number of responsibilities you will have. In additional to classes, full-time teachers are in charge of committees, research rooms, and in particular, seminar students. Seminar students are students that choose to engage in research with you for the full term of their 4 years at the university and ultimately, you are often responsible for helping find employment for them when they graduate. (Obviously a big responsibility.) You may be responsible for giving intensive courses during the summer months and also for administering test on weekends. You will have to help out during open campuses, festivals, and so on. You can expect to work during all school holidays. The students may not be in class, but this does not mean vacation for you.
Working at a Japanese university is a prestigious job with a lot of respect and better than average pay. Therefore, your co-workers will generally be very intelligent and well-educated. It is a great work if you can get it, less busy than working as a office worker, and generally with a better working environment.
Part-time Work
Working part-time at a university in Japan is great. If you can teach more than 8 koma (90 min) a week, your pay is pretty good for not much work and little to no responsibility. The average pay for 1 koma is about 10000yen, or somewhere around 100 USD or 75 Euros. If you have at least eight of those a week, that makes for a weekly pay of 80000 yen for 12 hours of (official) at the school work. Of course there is always class prep and marking and you won't be paid for that as those hours are included in your 10000yen per koma. This puts you in an annual income of just under 4 million yen per year, which is very decent pay for Japan.
The downsides to working part-time are that you have no input into any changes in your department, nor will you generally even be consulted by the full-time teachers unless you have a close working relationship with them. This is more disadvantageous for some people than others. Some individuals really care about improving the level of education at the school, and some people care mostly for their own students. If you are the kind of person who likes to make a difference in your workplace, part-time work might be tough for you.
Finally, you don't get any benefits, bonuses, research money, and you can't apply for most grants. You will probably not have a private office, and your computer/printer may be ancient. However, the biggest negatives are that your salary will never increase and you have no job security.
Full-time Work
Just like part-time work at a university, full-time work is a mixed bag of good and bad points. The main negative is pay vs. responsibilities and work hours. You will often start off making less than a part-timer would with a lot more responsibility. You will work at least 40 hours a week. Most teachers have on average 6-7 classes per week with language teachers often having more. Beware of any institution that has you teaching more than 12 classes per week, this is an unfair course load.
The average starting salary for a full-time university teacher varies so widely it is hard to give accurate numbers. It can be as little as 250000 (equivalent to a cram school teacher), or up to 480000 yen per month. Private schools will tend to pay less than public schools and lower-ranking schools (i.e. not famous or distinguished academically) will pay even less. However, these low-ranking schools are good entry jobs and may be more lenient in their hiring practices. Maximum salaries also vary with each institution.
Full-time university teachers get all standard benefits offered including health insurance, sick leave and holidays. Your salary will increase over time and most universities give you bonuses twice yearly. Also, you may have much greater job security usually with the possibility of tenure, although this depends on your institution and if they employ discriminatory-hiring practices for foreign employees. You will often get a yearly amount of money to spend on research and trips to conferences. You will also often get subsidised housing, dependent allowance, as well as a private office.
A big difference between full-time and part-time teachers is the number of responsibilities you will have. In additional to classes, full-time teachers are in charge of committees, research rooms, and in particular, seminar students. Seminar students are students that choose to engage in research with you for the full term of their 4 years at the university and ultimately, you are often responsible for helping find employment for them when they graduate. (Obviously a big responsibility.) You may be responsible for giving intensive courses during the summer months and also for administering test on weekends. You will have to help out during open campuses, festivals, and so on. You can expect to work during all school holidays. The students may not be in class, but this does not mean vacation for you.
Working at a Japanese university is a prestigious job with a lot of respect and better than average pay. Therefore, your co-workers will generally be very intelligent and well-educated. It is a great work if you can get it, less busy than working as a office worker, and generally with a better working environment.
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