I’m assuming my salary would be a lot lower if they did indeed include me in their bonus scheme. I’d rather have the money each month and not be locked for a whole year to get it.
1 Like
That is correct. But I assume its accounted for in my higher salary. But who really knows the truth. I can’t wrap my head around the way Taiwanese people think.
1 Like
I’d recommend identifying companies that you think might be a good fit for your skills and reaching out to them directly. LinkedIn can he helpful here.
You might also want to consider contacting agencies. A lot of them rely on freelance talent. Even if they don’t need your services now, putting yourself on their radar might lead to opportunities down the road.
Obviously, this is a tough environment because of the coronavirus situation so the timing for drumming up business as a new moonlighter might not be ideal, but there’s never a perfectly ideal time for anything anyway.
Good luck!
Let’s not bring race into this. The company specifically wanted an American with a creative background to bring a fresh POV to their products who can relatably write for a market in which they want to grow. Not another person who’s been doing it for a while, recycles the same stale writing, and is generally bored with it. My 10 years of experience in NYC’s corporate fashion industry got me this job, not my race.
2 Likes
That is definitely a good idea. I do feel that they are going to give me some push-back on this, but I’m certainly going to try getting that verbiage added into this contract. Thanks!
1 Like
Those are some of my company’s direct competitors. They’ve openly admitted to copying a lot of those company’s standards. Naturally, they’ve only copied the things that allow them to spend the least amount of money. Those are great packages, especially the 2 bonuses.
But, I don’t think my monthly salary would be 70K if they did include me in their bonus scheme. So, it’s probably better off for me.
You are absolutely right, though. HR just loves using the term “company policy” all the time. But it is definitely “discrimination.”
it depends how the salary was negotiated in the beginning. during the negotiations, my company for example offers an annual salary and a performance bonus.
in this case if the annual amount is divided into 12 or 13 is a technical issue, you still get the full amount they promised and you accepted .
if the offer you a monthly payment and then neglect to tell you others are getting 13 months, then it is a rip off.
My point was that you didn’t have any related work experience and you expected to get a high salary.
Transitioning from corporate fashion to what are you doing now?
Find out how much your local co-workers are being paid annually. This whole “monthly payment” thing is nonsense. I am a foreign teacher in a public school and I am paid about NT70,000/ month x 10 + a one month performance bonus. My coworkers are paid around 55,000/month x 14. In case you don’t want to do the math, our annual pay is the same, yet EVERYONE attacks me for being paid “significantly more” than them. Even the principal will call me into her office every few months just to mutter “foreign teacher pay is very very nice, much nicer than anyone else’s” during an otherwise pleasant conversation about my existence here.
I imagine your situation is going to be the same. But you need to ask around and gather evidence.
1 Like
Hmm I thought you would get some pay in the summer break , no?
Did you ask how the principals pay is over tea ?
“summer break pay” is the “one month bonus”, but the way they do contacts now it’s usually August 17th - July 7th or something, so you get paid through July 7th and then get a “one month bonus”. So I guess we get paid 11.6 months of the year.
Did I want to have a job after our conversation?
2 Likes
Oh no, don’t tell me you’re with ASRock!
You are obviously well qualified , why exactly do you work in Taiwan public schools again ? 
Another off topic q.
Answering this off-topic question, I ask myself this question…maybe not every day, but ya know. I’m finding myself dreaming of opening my own school more and more often, but I don’t think parents would be willing to pay the amount that would be necessary to charge for tuition just to have a facility that actually has the basic things that I see as necessary but most schools don’t bother with (like clean classrooms with proper windows and internet that works and stairs that aren’t a death trap and hot water and toilet paper in the bathroom) and still pay teachers a wage that would keep them on staff. One can dream.
Blockquote
Even the principal will call me into her office every few months just to mutter “foreign teacher pay is very very nice, much nicer than anyone else’s” during an otherwise pleasant conversation about my existence here.
I’ve gotten this too… how do the others attack you? Do they actually think that you do get paid more?
All due respect, but now you know why nobody else does it…
In my somewhat substantial experience here the only way to get a decent wage increase is to hand in your resignation and when asked why say you got a better salary package elsewhere. I once got offered a 40,000 raise by doing that.
Of course it’s a very high risk tactic.
1 Like
Another one is to quit and go work for a competitor and get asked back at a substantial increase, but it’s still pretty risky.
1 Like
I’ve run into other teachers from my school and other schools in the area when out who literally come up to me and say “aren’t you the foreign teacher at XXX school? Don’t you get paid almost 70,000/month? Wow, yeah, I wish I could have an opportunity to go to America to be paid that much. It’s so unfortunate that we Taiwanese teachers don’t get paid that much or have any opportunities like that". To which I now reply “If you go to America and flip burgers at McDonalds you will make nearly twice that if you’re at work the same number of hours you spend sitting around the school here”. Shuts 'em up pretty quick.
Yeah but have you ever set foot in a school in Taiwan that has stairs that are even and hot water in the bathrooms here?
Unfortunately, MOE is all about bureaucracy and they will only pay based on number of years worked in a formal school x level of education.
This would require me to go to a private school (see above about MOE pay) and in my experience, most private schools here have been absolute nonsense, offering me significantly less than I make now and trying to convince me that “you won’t find a higher paying school”. Ok, and you won’t find a qualified teacher, see ya! I don’t want to play the sexism card, but I have noticed the other teachers on this forum who are paid a ton are also men.