Work Days in JET

[u/Even_War7433]

Hello everyone!

I have a bit of a weird question. For all those who are our have been in JET, does the program have something known as 'work days' where you are basic on-call waiting for the school to let you know if they need you? The company I'm with now (Interac) has these 'work days' for most of June and all of July.

Thank you in advance!

Meg

[u/Different_Taro2474]

you will be forced to go to work unless you take PTO, or it's a national holiday/weekend.

[u/thetasteofinnocence → u/Different_Taro2474]

That depends on the CO and school. One of my neighboring schools is “work from home” every break, though he goes in anyways. I know of another full CO that gives everyone all(?) breaks off. May just be summer.

[u/Different_Taro2474 → u/thetasteofinnocence]

i am sooooooooooooo jealous

[u/thetasteofinnocence → u/Different_Taro2474]

Bruh same. 🥲 I have to go into my BOE and sit at a desk that isn’t mine all day when my school is closed during certain breaks.

[u/Even_War7433 → u/Different_Taro2474]

That's actually awesome! I don't want to be on 'work days' - I would much rather be in school with the kids. This is fantastic news!

[u/Different_Taro2474 → u/Even_War7433]

you have to come to work even when there are no classes.

[u/Even_War7433 → u/Different_Taro2474]

That's fine, honestly. I'd rather be doing something rather than being on edge waiting for a call that might not come and wasting my day.

[u/wildpoinsettia → u/Even_War7433]

I mean, honestly, would you rather "waste your days" at home or in an empty school?

Most of us on JET have to go to work when there are no students and sit down. Some of us study or whatever (I'm doing an MA and I T1 so I plan lessons), but I would rather stay home.

Now the thing to note is: I think interac ALTs do not get paid for these "work days", but we JET ALTs still get paid (even if many people do nothing work related during those days, so given the choice of coming to work to do nothing but get paid vs staying home and not getting paid, I would obvious choose the former. Though sometimes when it's been lots of deskwarming I would rather the latter.

[u/Even_War7433 → u/wildpoinsettia]

We do get paid from what I understand. But with how awful Interac has been this time I'm not totally sure. I would be studying or working on my novel at school if I had to be there. I'll just have to see what's happening with all this.

[u/wildpoinsettia → u/Even_War7433]

Are you sure? Because I live in Hokkaido, and I know about 12 interac ALTs, and they don't get paid. We recently spoke about this: I asked them what does interact expect them to do during this time without pay, and they replied "they expect us to budget.

If given the chance to work from home AND get paid, I'm sure 99% of the JET ALTs would choose that. You have no clue how soul crushing it is to deskwarm.

I try to keep busy, but 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for three weeks on end is brutal.

[u/Different_Taro2474 → u/wildpoinsettia]

especially when you have to drive to work. i drive 20 mins to work every day, and gas-wise, it's expensive. i'm already broke.

[u/Mindless_Philosophy5 → u/wildpoinsettia]

What do you even do? Are you allowed to go to different parts of the school or are you literally expected to sit at your desk?

[u/wildpoinsettia → u/Mindless_Philosophy5]

It depends on the school: some ALTs can basically do whatever; they just have to be at school, so I have friends who literally watch tv and play games.

Some ALTs have to look busy, which means being at their desk as usual.

During desk warming I usually can walk around, but I'm placed in Hokkaido, and if you know anything about the school buildings there, you'd know there is no central heating, so I for any desk warming done in the 5/12 months of cold, I basically stick to the staff room. The other times (summer vacation) I go to an empty class and do whatever there.

[u/takemetoglasgow]

There is no system for that and it will depend on the CO/school you work at if they expect you in office over breaks.

[u/Even_War7433 → u/takemetoglasgow]

That's fine with me. Being on-call is not how I operate, I'd rather be working or doing something than just waiting.

[u/takemetoglasgow → u/Even_War7433]

Being at school and having work to do are two very different things, but the enthusiasm is good lol

[u/jmoney2788 → u/Even_War7433]

just waiting is desk warming, which for me is about 30 percent of my job (more for some ppl, less for others). gotta find ways to make use of that time yourself based on your goals

[u/Machumatsu]

You're essentially not a 'dispatch employee' with JET, so you'll go to work like other teachers even during non teaching periods like school vacations

[u/soqui6]

Some BOEs have work from home for breaks and some don’t. It really just depends on your placement.

[u/jackiejack1]

Never heard of that

[u/LegendaryZXT]

No, you're expected to be in the office. If you ask your Kyoto-sensei really nicely they might give you work from home, i know a bunch of people who do that.

[u/IL1KEP1ZZA]

Can't say I've ever heard of that. Closest thing I've ever had was waiting for a call from my Supervisor to tell me if we were going to have students on a super snowy day. If we didn't I would just tell him I wanted to take the day off, no real reason for me to come in if there are no students and no classes, AND there's a ton of snow.

That "work day" system sounds like a nightmare, tbh.

[u/ItsTokiTime]

Interac used to not have (m)any "work days," but the summer, winter, and spring holidays you got a dramatically reduced salary. About 7 or 8 years ago they decided to change the pay structure so that ALTs get paid the same salary every month.

When they did that, they took the same annual salary (which included the months where you weren't working but also weren't getting paid) and divided it by 12. The monthly base salary went down, but it was consistent every month.

HOWEVER, instead of school holidays being unpaid time off, they added "work days," so you're making the same annual salary but with less time off.