Returning to an ex-employer

Hi All,

Does anyone have advice on returning to an ex employer (Buxiban teacher)?

Long story short I handed in my resignation about 5 weeks ago and only started my new job 2 days ago. Within this 5 weeks 2 other teachers have also resigned leaving them pretty desperate as there were only 4 English teachers to begin with and they no longer have a native speaking teacher.

They’ve now asked me to come back. They did not really make any effort to retain me when I resigned. I got the impression they gave up before they even tried, convincing themselves they couldn’t retain me when they definitely could have.

It was actually a great job and my reasons for quitting were purely financial. I was tired of them doing payroll illegally and I wanted a full-time position instead of hourly. They are really nice people and generally they care about their students and staff. The boss is just a bit older and stuck in his ways. He is easy to get along with.

My new job pays more but is much less fulfilling, teaching English is second to marketing. I already feel like the blue eyed white monkey of the school rather than a teacher. They don’t realise how bad of a job they do at teaching because they have so many students due to their marketing skills and they have never opened the lesson plan books.

I am considering asking my old job to match my current offer as well as pay for my HSR monthly ticket for one year as I’ve already moved. Is this too little or too much of an ask?

I already know their position is more teaching focused, less stressful and more fulfilling than my new one. I also already have a great relationship with the students there so it would be really easy to slide back in like nothing happened.
I do expect them to ask me to have more duties which is fine by me as I know these will be of benefit to the students.

It is fairly obvious they’re asking out of desperation but I do think they liked me there. The boss also is not good at searching for staff so this is an easy option for him.

Any past experiences are appreciated too :slight_smile:

I suggest you remind them of the reasons you left, then say you’re not happy with the other duties you have at the new school, then say you’d be willing to go back to the old duties with the new package. If they don’t take it, you can offer to do a few more duties, but keep that as a negotiating chip.

But if the new job is good enough, you should tell them that and they should give you a reason to move. If the new job is not good enough, why not start looking for 3rd options?

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This is a good tactic.

I do have a 3rd option as a trainer at this brands Head Office but there are some less than positive rumours about the office politics there.
I could leave this brand altogether or try something new but I’m comfortable and have found staying with one brand is a great negotiating chip.

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Just match? It’s only a sidegrade. Ask for more.

image

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Yes just do it. You dont have anything to lose. Dont worry too much.
If they decline your offer, maybe suggest them to up their offer or meet somewhere in the middle. Then you can decide if its still okay for you. You are in a very good negotiation position.

This is positive for you. Be confident, but not arrogant. Thats all.

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Love the meme @Marco I squeezed my new job pretty tight when I was negotiating with them… (although I do feel they were not honest about several things)

I don’t think my old boss is in a position to do much better. After the one year of paying for HSR I’ll ask for a bump in salary of the same amount :sweat_smile:

Old boss is a pretty carefree guy, this is probably why he assumed doing payroll illegally was fine by me. He didn’t think I’d quit over it. I was also a pain in the ass at one point with my teaching hours although to be fair he could have avoided that by making me full time from the beginning instead of hourly.

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From my experience with employers, even when they are very nice people, they can always pay more. Especially if they’re on their knees begging you to come back. Since tuition isn’t exactly top secret (ask a local friend to call and ask if you don’t know), I take the tuition they charge x the number of students, minus whatever the average rent would be for a retail space of that size in the area to figure out what they could reasonably pay each employee. (remember that schools usually charge insane additional fees for each child for “materials” that go way beyond what the school actually pays for them). I’ve had schools that insist that they can’t pay more than basically nothing because “we bought this building and our mortgage is really, really high. We really don’t have any more money”. And to that I say “have fun with your next dancing money, I know what I’m worth and it’s clear you don’t care”. (I will also say this isn’t 100% foolproof, but I’ve had experience with employers where the boss is driving a BMW around and heading abroad every other month but insists the most they can pay is $500/hr. Either you’re a trust fund baby running a cram school, you’re living on credit, or your business is making plenty of money. Regardless of which of those true, I negotiate fair compensation or walk.)

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I’ve only been here a year, and am currently looking for work, but I’m not getting a good impression of the majority of companies in the industry from what I hear.

I stayed for a year and a half longer than I planned because they are nice people and it took a lot for me to quit.

Employers are generally short sighted. He could have paid less to retain me than he is going to pay to re-employ me :joy:

I just don’t want to put myself in an awkward situation where they think I’ll leave at any moment and get snarky or whatever. I don’t think they will but who knows. I’ve never returned to a job that I’ve quit before (I was asked once and they offered less than I made when I quit… obviously didn’t take it)

GJUN?

I was in your position many moons ago. I went back for less pay and a better environment.

Sesame Street

Generally speaking, most cram schools suck. I have a teaching license in teaching ESL and Chinese in the US, speak fluent Chinese, can speak very intelligently about second language acquisition and child development, actually teach learners to use the English language in meaningful and useful ways, and all that gets me is gold stars and pats on the back.

The unfortunate reality about Taiwan is that parents don’t care enough to make the schools care. Cycling through white faces is expected. One parent out of every hundred might complain that a good teacher left. Parents pull their kids out of schools for all kinds of reasons, so there’s no business incentive for the schools to change their business practices and try to retain anyone. :person_shrugging:

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I always assumed you were a Kiwi because of your display name :joy:

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the things I didn’t think about when I decided I wanted to post one random comment on this forum once…

This is the sense I’m getting in my job search, they’ll put anyone who appears passable into a job just to fill it.

They’d obviously prefer someone who is super skilled and well-liked, but really, it doesn’t matter that much to them they’re just as happy to fill the job with someone mediocre and squeeze as much out of them as possible. You won’t get much extra or any real recognition for all the extra skill/ability or effort you put in, and it doesn’t matter much if you leave, either.

The way many people treat their fellow human beings is pretty appalling.

Weirdly I’ve felt this way about my jobs in Australia more than my jobs in Taiwan.

Also side note a huge red flag has come up at my new job which is that we aren’t allowed to leave the branch at all during the day. I love a coffee and 7-11 is literally next to the school.

I’m not allowed to go and buy a coffee, I have to order it on food panda.

This is enough for me to want to go back to my old job :joy:

You left for a reason? Has that reason changed?

Any new job should be 20-25% pay raise. And that old job would be considered a new job.
Tell that old job that wants you back that you want X, Y, and Z.
Then maybe take it if they can only give 2 out of 3. That’d be me.

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I’m good friends with the teacher there who hasn’t quit. He told the boss he could get me back if the boss does things legally and for the right price. Boss messaged me straight away.
My reasons for leaving were financial and if he fixes these things then I will be really happy to go back