Buxiban work during Covid times - acceding to lower pay?

Putting it short, my buxiban wants to switch to online classes for the time being due to the current situation and because we are not using the school’s physical facilities they want to lower hourly pay. Should I cede into getting anything lower than 600NT/hr? My understanding is that 600/hr is already way too low, and from other threads on here perhaps the lowest one should ever accept.

My thinking is that parents at the other end might also be demanding lower fees since their children are not going to the schools. Anybody else facing similar situations? If so, what’s your take?

Thank you in advance!

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No.

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Makes no sense. If anything they’re already saving money not having to open the facilities so why the lower pay?

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Quite a range of

Quite the opposite of the thread the other day: Working from home - cost compensation - feels like many employers are using COVID as an excuse to cut costs and increase profits :roll_eyes:

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Once you accept the lower pay, it becomes easier to make it a permanent change.

I’d say no and explain the costs are now being downloaded to you … extra AC costs, electricity, water, wear and tear of your computer and furniture etc… you should be paid more as you are paying more now.

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I’ve thought about that logic several times now and I don’t see it at all…is there any, at all? :thinking:

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They’re just looking for excuses however lame.

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I mean, I could see if they tried to justify it by reduced transportation costs or time, or why parents might want to pay less for not being able to use a school’s facilities, but this doesn’t work at all for reducing a teacher’s salary.

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Once COVID is over, they might try to reduce pay again. Because then everyone will start using the school’s facilities again (which of course should mean less salary!).

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You have to pay your own bills. Do not accept.

They are just trying to cheat you.

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Not using the school’s facilities means that margins are higher (not much, though)… ask them how they feel about you passing on your additional costs to them? Electricity for AC, PCs does add up fast in the summer. Tell them you want them to cover the additional costs as pushback. But always preface with a smile, and phrase it gently: “… perhaps my additional costs will be higher than before, out of my budget! It might be difficult for me to accept a lower rate!”

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I agree you should not accept lower pay since your expenses will not be lowered.

Many employers in different countries are trying to play this card so they can keep their profit margins. That said, they still have to pay rent and utilities for their premises which cannot be used during this time. This is the most expensive part of their operating costs.

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Don’t accept lower pay, certainly not.

You have more leverage right now than you might think. There are not enough foreigners coming in now to sustain traditional churn numbers already, and (it seems) some foreigners who have been here for a while are considering packing their bags now that the COVID dam Taiwan has had for so long is starting to show some pretty visible cracks.

Don’t cave!

EDIT: Ok, getting outside opinion here. The school could theoretically hire a teacher from anywhere - a teacher that does not physically have to be in Taiwan - to provide online instruction to their students…rendering your leverage useless. Someone please correct me here if I am wrong, but it seems like buxibans going online could cut costs and paperwork for them seeing that their pool of candidates is greatly increased and the speed in which they can hire them is greatly increased as well.

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Parents need to be happy though.

So it’s likely they would need to find an American preference for white Californian American.

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Or white from the UK

Look if you are in contract with them and the pay is stated on the contract, you should be quite safe! One way or the other…

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It’s logical, but given how they seem to treat employees here and the desire for face-to-face relationships, I don’t get the impression that the typical buxiban would be keen to employ teachers exclusively online (and then deal with all the ancillary stuff like international bank transfers and reporting salary payments).

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Also, teaching parents you an find teachers online. Quickly parent would find someone to teach their kids for less than the cram school will charge them.

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I said this somewhere else, the parents don’t need these schools while the lockdown is going on. Once the current agreement is up between the parents and schools I don’t see the parents sending any more money until they can send their kids to the actual schools. I think there are going to be a ton of disputes between the schools and parents about refunds etc… I seriously doubt the summer camps will go on. I don’t expect any type of school to open until the fall. The news reports a lot of school age kids from very young on up getting infected here in Taiwan. Parents don’t want their kids to get sick and also don’t want the kids getting the grandparents sick. Make the money you can while you can. As the poster said above, you can get an online tutor from anywhere.

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They own the business, they bear the risk of doing business.

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