I’ve been teaching for HESS about 3 months now in XinZhuang. My branch is actually decent and I like my HLS only contract. However, I’ve been thinking about living elsewhere, as I don’t like XinZhuang terribly much.
I’m looking for good branches in Taipei proper but am open to other major cities like Gaoxiong, Taizhong and Tainan. If there are branches in beautiful areas that aren’t too far from civilization, that works, too.
Transference/contract renewal will be on me before I know it, so I’m doing my best to think ahead now.
Just for clarity’s sake and to try and keep things on topic, people looking to just bash HESS need not apply. I would prefer a “greenlist” of good branches to a “blacklist” of bad ones, although some help is better than no help at all. I plan on inquiring at HR at some point regarding available branches- having an “insider” list of bad and good branches would be helpful so I know what places have openings because they suck and have high turnover and what places are actually good.
I taught at the XinZhuang branch several years ago and during my time it was one of the best branches to be in, which is a nice setup for my point: it’s the people, not the location that make a Hess branch good or not. Since there’s so much turnover at Hess the best way to find out what the good branches are is to find out where the good teachers and managers are (or better yet, going) and figure out how to work with them.
I’m glad I found your post, because I’m considering moving to Taipei and I’ve recently started a search myself for good Hess branches. I currently work in Fengyuan at the kindergarten, north Taichung county, and I like it a lot. I’ve heard through the grapevine that a lot of other Hess teachers are unhappy with their branches, so I consider myself lucky.
The good points: it’s really relaxed here, sometimes almost too much. The philosophy here is “Oh, by the way…” and sometimes that’s about important things too. The dress code is pretty relaxed - we can wear jeans and even (tasteful) shorts in the summer. All of my hours are at this one branch (some of my coworkers are split between this one and the HLS), so I have a great schedule, no nights past 6:30 and no Saturdays. We are often without an HNST, and the manager does not conduct observations regularly. We don’t have Treehouse performance days. My coworkers are all friendly and easy to get along with. Those are the positives that jump to mind right away…
The not-so-good points: we hear about important things very last-minute, which can be inconvenient. We rarely have materials for Fun Time when we need them, but then get them a week late after we’ve already scrapped the idea. There have always been comments since I’ve been at the branch that some of the HRTs are too harsh on the kids with yelling or their choice of punishments, and we worry about the kids getting traumatized. We’ve tried talking to the manager but not much gets done about it, often because of the Taiwanese mentality that it’s the teacher’s job to discipline the children. Those are really the only negatives I can think of.
I’d like to be in Taipei, but the thought of giving up my spot at this school feels silly, because I feel like the chances of getting another good branch are slim. I say this before I have actually read the greenlist. Ha, maybe I should go read that now. 
I hope this helps! Good luck!
Depends on people you work with~~~~ If you’re in Xinzhuang, you’re really close to Taishan/Luzhou/Rongfu which are easy going branches.
Don’t get placed in any branches in the Zhongli or Pingzhen area. When I was there this year, turnover was so high the even the Hess main office people were concerned.
The manager at Pingzhen, Sheena, expects everyone to do tons of extra work for free (she will try to get out of paying you for performances and telephone tests).
The manager at Zhongli seemed to be better, but the HNST Karen from South Africa is just flat out rude and bossy. Morale is low out here!
Oh, and by the way… Transfers don’t seem to be something managers at HESS like very much.
It’s funny to read the Hess lingo, the only reason I know it is my roommates used to work at Hess, quite a militaristic organization in it’s structure.
what KaiXi333 said is still true. sheena is terrible. anyone still looking to work for hess should do whatever they can to stay away from her reign of terror.