Ok, so as many of you know I came to Japan about a year ago to teach English. I have been working for NOVA at their headquarters in Osaka. The bunny is NOVA’s mascot, hence the title for this post.
NOVA has been plagued with scandals and is now teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Several years ago NOVA (the most successful English school in Japan with maybe 60-70% of the market share) decided to expand. In an act of pure hubris, a school was opened at EVERY subway/railway station in Japan. The suppy far exceeded demand and they were forced to scale back. This over-expansion was the beginning of NOVA’s downfall. Some might argue that it began with the company’s shady and forceful sales tactics aimed at acquiring new customers, but I think to some extent all major corporations do this.
The aforementioned sales tactics pressured students to purchasing points for lessons in advance that had an expiration date, saying that they could take lessons at anytime. In reality, many students were unable to schedule lessons, their points expired, and they were denied refunds. This was the beginning of the many lawsuits against NOVA.
In February of this year, the government raided NOVA’s headquarters where I work, seizing computers and information. This coupled with allegations of false advertisements resulted in a hefty ban imposed on NOVA by the government in June 2007. The ban prohibited NOVA from signing up students on long-term contracts.
Now a side note about NOVA’s business strategy. NOVA sells huge packages of lessons and uses the money for tomorrow’s lessons to pay for today’s fees - rent, salaries and so forth. Without the income generated by long-term contracts, NOVA has been unable to meet its financial obligations.
In July, the Japanese staff’s salary was late and their bonuses delayed until October. In August, the Japanese staff’s salary was also delayed. As of today, October 14, the Japanese staff have not been paid for September. Normal instructor’s salaries have always been on time until now. We received a memo saying that our salary would be delayed from the 15th of October to the 19th. Within NOVA we have a few different ranks of instructors, the majority being regular instructors. Above them we have a few tiers of trainers. In September, the trainers’ pay was delayed by 2 weeks. So that brings us up to date on the payday situation.
Many NOVA instructors (maybe most?) live in NOVA accomodation. The money for your apartment is deducted from your paycheck. NOVA has been deducting money from instructors’ paychecks but not paying the landlords. Most instructors in NOVA accomodation have been served eviction notices in the last few weeks.
In addition to not paying instructors’ rent, NOVA has also not been paying instructors’ health insurance. I have heard of instructors having to fork out at the hospital because they were no longer covered.
Fortunately, I have my own apartment and private health insurance that I purchased before coming to Japan.
There are a few more things to add, such as moving money to off-shore accounts and dodgy bank accounts in the Virgin Islands. There was also a rumour that someone has been arrested for fraud today. My friend has had the electricity switched off in his apartment because NOVA has failed to pay the utility bills. We don’t know if we will ever get paid by NOVA again, my guess is not and that NOVA will declare bankruptcy in a few weeks. I am currently waiting for my new visa to come through, so hopefully this will happen before NOVA collapses.
That’s it for now folks.
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