Poor experience. Hess illegaly sends teachers over to work.

Where to begin?

Well, first of all, my branch is pretty decent. The managers were helpful, and the staff was something that I could work with. Also, the kids were great. The issue I had was the HESS structure itself. They work you into the ground, especially if you teach kindy with a mix of treehouse classes. You're only paid for your time in class, but your time grading and doing administrative work is way more. According to the Labor Standard Act in Taiwan (read it before you sign any contract), andy buxibon company is only allowed to work you a certain number of hours a day, and the days you are clocked in are the days that you are legally allowed to be compensated for. Out of a whopping 10 hour work day (including grading, lesson prep, etc) you are only paid for 4 or 6 of those hours (depending on how many classes you actually teach). You even have to put on extra Kindy performance shows, which the rediculous amount of prep time for the show isn't compensated for at all. Also, it is the law to have employees paid for national Taiwanese Holidays, according to Article 39. Guess what? HESS doesn't pay you for any international holiday. I'm actually planning to go to the labor board about this. HESS has gotten away with so many illegal practices, I feel partly to blame because I didn't research what my rights were.

I terminated my contract early due to a family emergency, and in the contract you agreed to a 20,000 termination fee. First of all, it is ILLEGAL to work as a kindy teacher in Taiwan, and you figure this out AFTER you sign the contract. What bugs me even more is that HESS attempted to deduct my wages from my paycheck, which is black and white illegal, and can open them up to a civil suit and get them fined 90,000 NT. The reason they didn't is because I researched my rights as an employee. Needless to say, I didn't pay the fine even after much intimidation and coercieon by my HNST to make me sign another contract promising I'll pay some other amount of NT.

HESS has a reputation of overworking and underpaying its employees, and if you're not careful, they will nickel and dime you. They have left a really bad taste in my mouth after all of this. I'm glad to be done with them. It's no coincidence that they have such a high turnover rate and they have issues retaining empoloyees.