The positive reviews on this site are really suspicious. Employees have mentioned being coerced into writing positive reviews by management when negative ones appear, so take them with a grain of salt.
The company can be VERY disorganised, which requires both flexibility and saint-like patience at times. Communication isn't always very clear and things could definitely be said in more straightforward and transparent ways so the teachers are clear on what's going on. There are also a lot of last minute schedule changes which staff aren't always informed of. Sometimes employees are told, other times they are just expected to check the online schedule repeatedly for any last minute changes which can lead to a lot of problems as you can imagine.
Freecom prides itself on having a company ownership pairing of a foreign male and Japanese female. In writing, it looks great, but many employees have suffered at the hands of the female leader in the forms of direct and constant harassment, having their words twisted, and having important questions and requests deliberately ignored multiple times or put off with some poor excuses.
The schedule can be rough sometimes. 1 - the work hours change between weekdays and weekends which makes you a lot more tired than working from and until the same time each day. 2 - You'll commonly teach 8 40min classes in a working day. This is common across English schools, but can be very demanding and lead to teacher burnout which is a real issue, especially when you're always expected to be in perfect form by management. 3 - If you're teaching at a school outside of the main part of Koriyama City, you have to tack on travel time (sometimes up to an hour each way) on to the 8 classes and hour and 20 minutes that you're there for before classes. This is really draining and can mean that you're on the clock for 12 hours (compared to about 9 and a half for a Koriyama City teacher including walking to work) but not paid any extra for your added time. 4 - You get 10min breaks between classes and a long lunch break, but these aren't really breaks. You're expected to fill this time socializing with students and planning, so if you do actually take a personal break during this time (other than the time it takes to buy and eat lunch), senior employees look down on you and often make comments about you not using your time wisely. Planning doesn't take every waking moment, and if you have a busy schedule, you need a break to relax a little, otherwise you get too tired and perform poorly.
Many employees have decided to leave, and when they did they were shunned by senior employees. Things we said were always relayed to senior staff, so if you decide to leave, watch what you say and assume nothing is private or safe because even if it's said absent mindedly or as a joke, it'll get back to management and they'll hound you and make you answer for it as if you had malicious intent in saying it. Whenever an employee gets upset at the company, the company plays the victim and acts like the employee is "out to get them" and management go out of their way to guilt other employees into taking their side against you.
You don't get any kind of paperwork for your apartment or cell phone. All staff pay 48,000 Yen despite living in apartments of different sizes and qualities, so you could well be paying more than you should for the place you live in, but no one will ever tell you. You also have to pay a deposit and key money to Freecom - this is common when you FIRST lease an apartment. Yes, Freecom will have paid a deposit and key money when they first leased the apartments, but certainly not for each new person that moves into an already leased apartment, so they are likely pocketing your deposit and key money.
The contract is almost non-existent. It is one page of A4 and very brief. It makes no mention of employee rights, specific duties and responsibilities, or protocol to follow in the event of well...anything. It needs a LOT of elaboration and specifying of details. If you showed it to any attorney, they would laugh you out of their office
Freecom pays 210,000Yen a month to instructors. Granted, many English schools only pay teachers by the lesson, and to live in Koriyama, this is enough (I for one never had to go without anything due to the salary). However, this salary is at least 40,000Yen less than most salaried positions at English schools or school based ALT programs. For the amount of work you have to put in with the schedule, commute, and frankly, patience in putting up with all the drama that goes on, 210,000 is not nearly enough. As I mentioned in the pros, there are many regular events which can be fun, however they are pretty expensive (especially on a Freecom salary). You're always expected to go and if you choose not to you get told you aren't a team player and you're looked down upon by senior staff.
