Bad - Teacher First Leap Employee Review

1.0
Jun 2, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing

Cons

Everything everything everything everything everything

Explore other reviews about First Leap

5.0
Sep 19, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Pay your employees now, please.

Cons

Need to treat employees with respect.

1.0
Mar 6, 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

When you get arrested for working illegally, a company guy will come get you out...after 3 days.

Cons

The most popular business tactic throughout Asia is called the "White Monkey Job". They put white people on all the marketing products, and a couple in the schools. Asian parents pay top dollar thinking their kid will be the next bill gates. First Leap takes it even further, by pulling a bait and switch on the foreign teachers. They give you a job offer for about 15000 RMB per month. After you arrive in China, they tell you that you will only get 2-3k for your first 3 weeks because its a training period. Then after a month they tell you that your first paycheck will only be for 5 days work, because of the pay periods. Then your second paycheck arrives, and by now you owe a lot of people money and are living on another teachers couch. Presto, they took 3000 RMB out of the check because one of the Chinese teachers doesnt like your attitude; its called the KPI system. It never ends...

22
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First Leap Response
8y
Thank you for your review. I think there is a little confusion about the payment structure. First Leap as a company works with a number of recruitment agencies. All the recruitment agencies are given information about the payment structure and should be clear in the interview process as to how initial payments are done. New teachers will go through Junior Training, which has a set payment depending on performance. This is independent of the contract salary. After the initial training period, should the teacher pass the training, the teacher will be paid the normal salary for the days they have worked within the payment period (this is not including the training period of 10 days, as this is already paid by the set amount provided the teacher passed the training). Often recruiters will state to candiates the overall salary. This normally means base pay, housing payment (if applicable), and other monthly performance bonuses. I would strongly advise to potential candidates reading this review, if you are offered a contract please look at the salary break down. The KPI section is not guaranteed payment - it is a performance incentive payment. In corporate centres, KPI is broken into three parts: Parent satisfaction (50%), local teacher satisfaction (20%) and assessors (a teachers supervisor) feedback (30%). KPI breakdown will vary in franchise schools, however you should be provided with a clear breakdown of KPI before you assume employment. KPI will be a base payment and depending on performance can be increased or decreased. If a teacher is offered the base payment of 1000RMB (purely as a hypothetical example) and performs very well, the base is multiple by 1.5, allowing te teacher to recieve a payment of 1500RMB. If a teacher performance ok but does not go above what is expected, they are paid the base amount. However is a teacher performs poorly, they could lose the KPI payment. In most cases, teacher are paid either the base payment or the top payment. It is very rare for a teacher to not be paid any part of their KPI. If a teacher disagrees or feels the KPI score is unjust, they can raise a grievance with the International Department Manager, information of which can be found in the employee handbook. As a company, we can only apologise to you that this was not made clearer. We will work with our recruiters to ensure that new teachers coming in fully understand the purpose of KPI and the way in which the initial payment is made. To potential candidates, I would like to suggest saving money before coming to China, as the initial cost of settling into a new country can be a lot, so be prepared. You can speak with your recruiter to find out the costs of housing and living in cities you would like to come to in order to help you financially plan.
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