March Madness: Making the Old Nova Look Good

So far, it appears that g.communication has botched the rebirth of Nova. No matter how much lipstick they try and put on it, neo-Nova still looks like a pig. I did a little digging in the forums and came up with a few choice nuggets from ex_sensei that illustrate how bad things are going for g.com. The picture he paints makes the old Nova look good by comparison.

NOTICE OF WORKING CONDITIONS

Everyone who is currently working and their contracts aren't up for renewal for the foreseeable future, should get a new NOTICE OF WORKING CONDITIONS forms which they must sign and fax back to Foreign Personnel. However, FP has no clue as to who is working at the branches so they haven't made one up for everybody currently working. This is not FP's fault but rather GCOM's fault for not keeping them in the loop.

If you're working for GCOM and haven't signed a new contract, please ask your branch manager to see if she's received the NOTICE OF WORKING CONDITIONS. She has probably already received it via a PDF file sent to the branch's e-mail account (as each branch now has an e-mail account). Ask your manager to search for it in the branch's e-mail inbox and print it out for you to sign. The forms must be signed. If you don't sign them, then technically you can be put in the bad books and be deemed "uncooperative" and let go!

BRANCH VISITS

They've already begun and they'll be conducted by the members of the Human Resource Enhancement (sic) division headed by Mr. Yamaya (the chap who's going round and retraining instructors how to 'smile' and be 'better people') with help from ex-GMs Kisa Leota-lu and Jack Aranda. Yamaya is a big twit, but Jack's alright and Kisa cares to some extent.

They'll be doing inspections of cleanliness, evaluating instructors (actually watch lessons), interview J-staff, talk to instructors, evaluate morale and make sure all materials are up to date (they follow a checklist). Let them know about the morale in your branch and be honest with them, especially if you get YAMAYA. Tell them how GCOM's tissue campaign is a waste of resources and time - Point out the stacks of boxes of tissues in the branch which aren't handed out because instructors and staff have no time (imagine how many jobs could have been saved if those boxes weren't ordered). Also inform them if your J-staff do not print your pay stubs (which they should) or forward to you any material which is now sent to them via e-mail.

NOTICE OF REGULARITY ALLOWANCE | PENALTIES FOR ABSENCES

[ Regulations and Conditions Concerning the Regularity Allowance, Absence and Lateness ]

Instructors should soon be receiving a document about the new regulations regarding regularity allowances and penalties for absences. It's either mailed to you, or it's sent to your branch's e-mail account (in which case the J-staff should print it out for instructor). Instructors must read and mail it back to their respective Foreign Personnel division. Make sure you ask your J-Staff to print it out for you if they already haven't! Instructors with new contracts will be the ones receiving it first, and then the rest of the instructors.

What does it all say? In short, if you are not late or absent, you get a salary rise but if you are absent... You're screwed! The wording of the document is pretty complicated but for example, if an instructor has 3 absences within a calendar month (without notification), their contract will be terminated or they will be offered a new contract with a 10% reduction in base salary for the remainder of their previous contract period. The same goes if an instructor is 10 minutes or more for a shift, 3 times a month (or late for a shift for 9:59 min or less/6 times a month).

There will also be deductions of salary from the Regularity Allowance (now YEN 40,000/month) - 1 absence with notification equals a cut of YEN 15,000 and so on. If you are absent more than three times a month, the 4th and following absences will be carried over and deducted from the following month.

The above will not apply if a medical certificate is provided. In short, if you get sick, go to the doctor as these people are serious about instructor attendance. They seriously believe that the instructors are at fault because of the student complaints regarding a lack of teachers! They're dellusional!

GEdu's near YEN 500,000,000 LOSS

[...]

Anway, the news about the nearly YEN 500,000,000 loss is true. Geducation lost that amount and the guy in charge of it is in deep sh*t. Things aren't looking good.

YAESU NOVA

Well, not surprising, the opening of the YAESU school today was a complete bomb! They had a total of about 7 calls and hardly any visitors. There are plans to open new schools in Shibuya, Shinjuku and Ginza next. One has to wonder if they'll get the word out for those schools.

"RENEWAL SCHOOLS"

This is what GCOM is calling schools that are going to be relocated to new (read cheaper) locations. Obviously they don't want to say they're relocating, so they've chosen renewal as the code-word for the branch's move to a new location. The students (and instructors) won't know until a week before the move and the "renewal" aspect will be pushed - i.e. It'll be a better school! There are a lot of schools that are going to be going through "renewals". Akita Ekimae went through it recently, and Chiba Chuo (ex-Honko) will go through it soon.

NEW CAPACITY RATIO

The old instructor/student is no longer the only criteria for instructor numbers in a branch. Effective immediately, a new capacity formula is in effect. If capacity is low in a branch, then more instructors will be put on standby. So, if your school is very busy but you only have one or two students per class, then your school will most likely have instructors be put on standby. Also, a formula for student tickets-used/month is in effect - this will determine the branch's sales rankings (and in my opinion is their first wise formula).

[Note: I'm told the pay cut is apparently for FP and upper management only.]

SALARY CUT ACROSS THE BOARD

It's true, and it's not just the gaijin staff. Every non-contract worker in the company is getting a salary cut - They'll get the pay of one level (or sometimes two) levels their current salary range. The company gives different pay scales with pay scale names such as "主管a", "主管b", "主管c" and so on... So, those getting a "主管a" salary will go down to a "主管b" salary which is less pay. The only people who are unaffected are the newly hired J-staff that are at the bottom of the pay scale.

At the same time, to lessen the shock of the salary cut, everyone is entitled to a YEN 5000 coupon at any G-Restaurant and a free night (with dinner) at the semi-luxurious G-Hotel and Resort in Shizuoka Prefecture (offer valid only on the employee's birthday month). Instructors are welcome to it as well!

An image of a letter of congratulations and one of the coupons can be seen here.

NEW POTENTIAL ISSUE - FP TO BE MANNED BY CHINESE INSTRUCTORS

It keeps getting better and better at GCOM everyday!

Just to add about the wage-cuts posts made earlier: Inayoshi has decided head office budget has to be cut so it's sayonara to anyone that actually knows what they are doing! The foreign staff in Foreign Personnel have been given the option of a pay cut or being made redundant with a severance. If they decide to leave (and who wouldn't blame them!), FP will then be manned by Chinese language instructors who will be brought in from the branches or from standby. Apparently the reasoning is the Chinese instructors speak Japanese and "English" and are cheaper than FP staff since they'll keep their instructor salaries.

So, come April, if someone calls FP they'll probably have to deal with a non-native English speaker who won't have any idea what they're doing.

KIDS PROGRAM: No more Chibiko and the Kids material from 2005 (Vol. 1) will be reused. Originally there were plans to remake the LMPs for the KIDS program, but now old LMPs will be rehashed. Not all branches have the old books or know how to get them as they're in storage somewhere and nobody knows exactly where! Furthermore, the ordering system does not have the KIDS books on it.

FP/EQC: Education Planning is practially gone, as is the Tokyo FP (they all have taken redundancy as of the end of the month). Osaka FP will have fewer people as well.

BRANCH OPENINGS: In other news, Shibuya NOVA is scheduled to open on April 10th, Yokohama NOVA Ekimae on April 19th and Ginza NOVA on April 20th. All these schools will be in different (cheaper/less visible) locations. Who will man these schools when nearly everyone is gone?

Tack onto this, the General Union's hounding of g.com, the lack of an advertising campaign, problems with opening new schools, the continued use of a damaged brand, and general ill will from its instructors, and you have one giant train wreck in the making. Any takers on when g.com decides it's had enough and pulls the plug on neo-Nova?