Comment by Turner

September 27, 2007 @ 11:28 am

I really want to hear what they’re doing in America in terms of active recruiting. There are still postings on SEEK in Australia.

Ken, there probably are grounds for a lawsuit, but I think we both know the chances it’ll be pursued aren’t very likely; we hear about these extraordinary cases where NOVA or AEON teachers were able to file suit for discrimination, wrongful termination, or lost wages, but those are the ones that were willing to tough it out for months, even years, to wait for a settlement. With the plantiffs being so many people young and new to Japan, I’m willing to bet they’ll just cut their losses.

However, this might become a much larger issue very quickly if we find that hundreds of foreigners are “stranded” in Japan without the means to pay for a ticket home. That will raise more attention in the media and government.

Comment by tora

September 27, 2007 @ 12:30 pm

I’m sorry to hear about your situation…sucks, but at the same time all I can say is “why didn’t you do some research before coming over here?”…. of course the company wasn’t going to tell you they were going under… you think any company would do that? if so your in for a wake-up call from reality. like I said, sucks, but not their fault you didn’t do some basic background checks on your company before signing the contract and boarding the jet….
Ps… there will be plenty of jobs around …. if nova does implode then there will be “carpet-bagger-eikaiwa” close on their heels… stif upper lip me lad you’ll pull through.

Comment by Fried Toast

September 27, 2007 @ 1:17 pm

From my 5 years worth of experience here (and not as an English teacher), I would say that any of these “stranded” people should be able to find work if they’re willing to look. The English teaching position might be declining a bit in relation to previous years, but there is still a need for English teachers. For someone right off the plane, it’d be tough, but I would think that anyone that’s spent a little bit of time here would be able to find work as an English teacher.

Just like back in the US, or anywhere else, you have to use a little elbow grease and some footwork to make your way, but it can be done (and not too terribly difficult from what I’ve seen).

Comment by Garrett

September 27, 2007 @ 2:46 pm

Tora, I agree that research in advance would have saved a lot of people a lot of headaches, however, there’s not a whole lot people could have done, especially when Nova was going out of its way to downplay its troubles and obfuscate. Statements like “You’ll hear a lot about Nova - good and bad,” are a blatant attempt to make the situation seem like one of disgruntled whiners trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill.

What reasonable research, prior to mid-August, would have told people Nova was going to flagrantly flout the law by ignoring its contractual obligations to its employees? What research, within reason, would have told people Nova was going to engage in blatant fraud?

We’re looking at the difference between people who missed tiny clues there’s really no reason anyone could have expected them to pick up (until a few weeks ago, many were accusing TPR and Japan Economy News of being over-eager to dance on Nova’s grave, now everyone should have known what we did?) and clear violations of the law and any standard of ethical behavior. There is no doubt which side is absolutely and completely responsible for ALL of the hardship going on now.

Comment by ken

September 27, 2007 @ 4:52 pm

There is no doubt which side is absolutely and completely responsible for ALL of the hardship going on now.

Are you going to try to pin this on Naoto Kan?

Comment by Elena

September 28, 2007 @ 1:00 am

I was hired through the Boston office in early May. After months of paperwork and waiting to get my passport, it seemed like I was finally going to be able to start my job in japan( they gave me an expected departure date for Nov. 6th). Yesterday (Sep.26th), i got a call from a representative from the Boston office telling me that the company was going through some “financial issues” and that only some of the instructors had been payed on time. She was very empathetic about the situation and told me that I was welcome to withdraw my application or leave it active while happily dancing the “wait and see jig”. Needless to say, I am extremely disappointed over the news. I guess it was pretty irresponsible on my part for not following the company’s financial profile more closely. But, it also seems extremely dishonest that they would go so far into the application process as to give me a confirmed departure date for November when the company is in such financial ruin. Thus, I’m at a crossroads. Do I start all over and try to find a job in the U.S.? Or should I wait to see if NOVA can get their shit together? Going to Japan has been a dream of mine for a while, but i think i might be better off trying to go with JET or a more reliable company. Moreover, the thought of an inconsistent paycheck in a foreign country makes me extremely nervous. I wouldn’t even consider doing it in the U.S.

The “bicycle business model” that NOVA utilizes seems to be the serious downfall. It only works of there is a steady flow of income into the company. With the stress of the recent lawsuits coupled with government sanctioned branch closures and a lack of backup funds, there seems to be no proper solution besides completely revamping the company’s strategic focus and financial goals. This option may work, but it’s going to take a while to develop and implement, which makes me nervous about joining the company.

What’s a fresh out-of-college girl to do?

Thanks for all the posts everybody. Sharing information is the only way honest business gets accomplished. NOVA’s lack of doing so seems to have gotten them in big trouble.

Comment by DeOrio

September 28, 2007 @ 2:34 pm

Elena, Nova is not going to turn things around. Sorry. JET’s not a bad option if you don’t mind teaching schoolkids and don’t mind being a bit out in the boonies. There are plenty of schools, too, you’re not limited to Nova.

If you already have our visa, you could always use some of your savings to get set up and find a job once you’re here. Remember that yourvisa (if you have it) does not oblige you to Nova in any way.

Comment by Sam

September 28, 2007 @ 4:36 pm

I just got news from the two resident foreign English teachers who work at my high school that the Nova schools around where I am are now certainly closing soon. The consequences of this are that students like my Brazillian friend Paula, a recent immigrant to Japan, has now just lost an irreplacable sum of money that was only spent with the beleif that she would be getting English lessons coming this autumn. Other students at my school are also facing similar dismal situations. No one is happy at my high school to say the least. There is a distinct sense of having been taken advantage of pervailing among the affected students.

Comment by ken

September 29, 2007 @ 2:12 am

There is a distinct sense of having been taken advantage of pervailing among the affected students.

They have been taken advantage of. This is a company that has blatantly taken advantage of anyone it could ensnare: staff, teachers, customers, vendors. It’s not how to run a business and make honest money.

Comment by Nicole

October 4, 2007 @ 8:02 pm

They have been taken advantage of. This is a company that has blatantly taken advantage of anyone it could ensnare: staff, teachers, customers, vendors. It’s not how to run a business and make honest money.

Very true, however, these transgressions have occurred over a decade, but now when the company is no longer making a profit it is hit by contradictory sanctions by METI.

Nova has recorded losses over the past two years yet the sanctions placed on the organization order it to both hire new Instructors and refund students. In addition, it limited the organization’s business practices. METI pretty much ensured Nova’s bankruptcy and in the end no one is going to get paid unless some bureaucrat is either paid off (which was probably what was happening before) or the sanctions are adjusted to reflect not only the financial abilities of the organization, but also the economy of Japan.

Are there jobs for foreigners? Yes, but be watchful for organizations that conveniently “ignore” laws or “forget” about them. There is no protection for foreigners in Japan from dodgy organizations, unfortunately. Well, not without a pricey lawyer. It is not a priority for a government with more pressing concerns like internal corruption. The embassies are also ambivalent since the people there are so afraid to step on toes that they are forced into inaction ultimately doing nothing for foreigners in Japan.

In other words, the future looks bleak for any Nova Instructor.

Comment by Ken Worsley

October 4, 2007 @ 11:31 pm

METI pretty much ensured Nova’s bankruptcy

METI hasn’t been perfect, but NOVA ensured NOVA’s bankruptcy.

It is not a priority for a government with more pressing concerns like internal corruption.

I didn’t know that was a pressing concern!

The embassies don’t care, much agreed there.

Comment by DeOrio

October 5, 2007 @ 12:25 am

To be the wet blanket, embassies’ job is not to take care of their nationals abroad, but to maintain relations with the country to which they are stationed. If, for example, the Australian Embassy’s sticking up for Aussies in this Nova fiasco hurts any deal between Australia and Japan, they’ve failed. Embassies are not there to take care of their nationals abroad.

Comment by Ken Worsley

October 5, 2007 @ 1:40 am

DeOrio,

True, but I think there’s a difference between, “Get a lawyer” and having resources for one’s citizens. Not that I would ever recommend any embassy as the first place anyone should go, I just wish they could provide a bit more help when people need it. Just a tad…

…I wish my embassy would even pick up the phone.

Comment by Roxanne

October 7, 2007 @ 6:59 pm

Tora, how dare you?!

What exactly do you think “Basic background checks” entails?

Google is probably a good place to start. Try typing Nova Group into the search engine results. Even adding words like ‘insolvency’ and ‘bankrupty’ doesn’t actually bring anything up. The only reason I found this site is that a friend of mine helped blow Nova’s cover on CTV.

Plus before, what, September 14th, even people actively working for Nova had no idea that the company was in such a bad way.

I am actually a Barrister in England, so I am in no way naive in the throes of company law. My first inkling that Nova was in trouble was when they started selling off their shares in early September. Sale of assets is a common ‘time-buying’ device used by companies who need enough money to make a last ditch effort. At the same time, they announced branch closures, so at that stage it looked like they were freeing up enough money to keep afloat until the results of the closures started to show.

EVEN when they delayed payment, it seemed like it *could* have been accidental as they were claiming.

So, pre-september (although I submit that even now information would not be easy to get hold of) all that could really be done to check the situation was maybe check the share value of the company. This would require a) knowledge of the range of outcomes a share value could indicate and b) enough business knowledge to know which that would be. Even Ken Worsely took until June to predict Nova’s demise and he is a professional commentator. Even now, nothing is certain.

SO what did we really have? Facebook? Disgruntled ex-nova staff slating the company name in a few blogs? Not even the really damaging stuff anyway. Could you imagine that in a court of law…”Your Honour, on page 4 of the bundle you will find a print-out of James’ blog which clearly states that his friend Marie who knows the Defendant, heard him tell his girlfriend Sarah that he did it.” I would rarely be allowed to submit an official website.

With regards to the company offering information, you forget that we are recruited by our own nationals. People who sold us health insurance that had already stopped paying out; one-way tickets to a country we might have to return from without ever being paid; told us we would not need to take much money with us as we would recieve a salary advance that they haven’t paid and also to accomodation for which the rent had not been paid for some time. Whilst they obviously had to tow the line somewhat, I think ethics comes into question here. When the recruiters met with us we were in a country with countless employment opportunities, yet they didn’t think it plausable to warn us so that we could maybe decide not to give up our jobs, accomodation, relationships to be here.

You seem to think jobs will be plentiful, but there are only so many jobs for foreign workers, most of whom have limited Japanese ability. We are not only competing with the average market, plus those coming from abroad, but now with eachother, the employment sector has already been flooded with applications, some companies are no longer accepting applications.

Either you work for Nova and you are one of the sickening Novabots who has kept this company going this long, and probably still goes into work, putting off the eventual collapse.

OR, you don’t work for Nova, you are busy-bodying in other people’s business in a completely non-constructive way. Other people who are in a foreign country with no money and nowhere to live.

If there is any naivity in this situation, it falls on your side. You are completely naive as to how far a company can and will go to secure its own will.

The basic thrust of your argument was that we should have researched. I would submit the same question to you. Did you do *any* research before submitting your poorly drafted and frankly, horrifically stupid comment?

Comment by Occam

October 11, 2007 @ 11:20 pm

Ken, I like your financial analyses but I think there is some schadenfraude and perhaps an unhealthy dose of conspiracy theory in your posts and blogs on Nova.

I’m not sure why you mix facts and good analysis with more subjective and doubtful claims such as ” blatantly taking advantage of anyone it could ensnare”. Isn’t it unlikely that Nova is some web of evil that has some set of deliberate policies to harm all ist cleints and employees?

The truth is simpler than idea of a vast plan of wrongdoing. Nova is a company that has managed itself into the ground because the CEO does not have the skills needed, or the focus, to run a large organization. He is a poor decision maker with little understanding of finances and compounds this with being a poor communicator. He also has large pretensions that the situation can be bent to his will and all be OK.

Guilty of bad management and some delusion but not of the many claims made about evil and unrestrained greed. He is largely driven by the idea of being a famous entrepreneur in Japan than anything else.

Almost every action by Nova, that is vilified here and on other sites, has a much more complex or subtle explanation.

One example that relates to this blog topic: Outrage that overseas recruiting of new employees was not discontinued - presumably at some easily defined point along the glide path to the present time.

I know for a fact that a cessation of hiring was discussed many times. However, the director in charge of recruiting was told by an experienced lawyer that if he did so and this action was contributory to a collapse he could be held legally responsible for bankrupting a company. So, relunctantly, recruiting went ahead. Not the least part of it was the improvement plan submitted to METI, which called for rectification of the problem in lesson reservations.

Given that the recruitment cycle is up to 6 months months long I cannot see how any other decision could have been reached. Even now, there is uncertainty about whether Nova will go under and so, ads for positions continue to appear.

And, yes, I know it is unpleasant for new arrivals to face the prospect of sudden unemployment or late salaries and uncertain accommodation. There are many additional things that could have been done, certainly warnings as Roxanne suggests, but the know it all idea that recruiting should have been stopped at some stage just doesn’t fit the facts.

Comment by Ken Worsley

October 11, 2007 @ 11:42 pm

Occam, glad I flushed you out.

I think you’re a bit over the top in attributing ideas to me that I haven’t actually stated. But I’ll let it slide.

The truth is simpler than idea of a vast plan of wrongdoing. Nova is a company that has managed itself into the ground because the CEO does not have the skills needed, or the focus, to run a large organization. He is a poor decision maker with little understanding of finances and compounds this with being a poor communicator. He also has large pretensions that the situation can be bent to his will and all be OK.

Pretty much agreed here. I don’t think there’s a ‘vast plan of wrongdoing’ either, but when customers are lied to and cheated, when rent is not paid on apartments and people are evicted, and when the company continually lies about salary obligations, I call that pretty blatantly taking advantage of people. Rent was deducted from pay packets without being paid, and without telling the employees that this was happening. That is pretty close to the definition of being taken advantage of. If the company had any sense of respect for its teachers or sense of moral obligation, it would have told these teachers that it was deducting but not paying.

At any rate, I certainly don’t assert - and I never have - that there’s any conspiracy, and I think you’re correct in stating that most problems are due to unsophisticated management. By no means do I mean to imply that any single employee of Nova is guilty of wrongdoing other than at the very top. I firmly believe that they are hardworking, dedicated people - like at any company - who have been taken advantage of.

I know for a fact that a cessation of hiring was discussed many times. However, the director in charge of recruiting was told by an experienced lawyer that if he did so and this action was contributory to a collapse he could be held legally responsible for bankrupting a company. So, relunctantly, recruiting went ahead.

This really makes little sense given the nature of limited liability. I don’t see how the director’s decision could constitute an individual breaking the law, piercing the corporate veil and being left at exposure risk to criminal prosecution. This paragraph is very hard to believe.

You’re not going to like what I’m about to say, but it’s true: Without meeting minutes proving the above claim, I cannot take it seriously. Convince me.

And, yes, I know it is unpleasant for new arrivals to face the prospect of sudden unemployment or late salaries and uncertain accommodation.

Mosquito bites, good sir, are unpleasant. The situation you describe is corporate PR suicide, possibly fraudulent, seemingly illegal, and without a doubt, deplorably reprehensible.

Comment by Occam

October 12, 2007 @ 5:40 pm

Ken, well, I did provide one statement from you that I think was overdone. I don’t have time here to answer all the points you raised - not dodging, simply answering generally.

The events where students are sold new packages and employees still recruited is an outcome of the confusing and uncoordinated situation. You have sales staff, area managers, overseas staff, etc. all unsure of what to do, and not being told to do otherwise, continue their jobs - because they alone cannot presume or determine that the company will fold.

This isn’t “ensnaring” - it’s what happens when a company breaks down. Commentators seem to be taking the hard line that since they presume to know the company will collapse, everyone should take the same stance and act the same way. It’s just not that easy.

As I mentioned, the situation is much more complex and fluid than is presented, or judged, in the media. I don’t disgree that matters could have been handled very differently - much more ethically - and that is why I am posting.

I don’t have minutes to any meeting, so you or other readers will have to decide if they believe the information or not. My interest is in outlining why an event (like continued recruiting) happened. You may be right on an ultimate legal outcome, especially since limited liability normally covers this area.

Unpleasant is a euphemism, sure. I see it as reprehensible as well - after it was obvious that accommodation was going to be lost, or couldn’t be paid for. But even that boundary would not be easy to pin down. Before that - I think it’s difficult to conclude it’s much more than a very hard decision based on limited information, certain commitments already made and on uncertain outcomes either way.

Comment by Ken Worsley

October 12, 2007 @ 6:25 pm

Unpleasant is a euphemism, sure. I see it as reprehensible as well - after it was obvious that accommodation was going to be lost, or couldn’t be paid for.

At that moment - whether or not it was thought that funds could be acquired in the future - at the moment a single rent deduction was taken from a pay packet and not forwarded to a landlord, that employee should have been told. This is a simple honesty/employer trust issue.

Whether or not the company thought it could secure funds to pay back rent in the future is irrelevant. To take funds for rent from a pay packet and not pay them to the landlord is wrong. To not inform the employee in question is dishonest, and may constitute fraud. It might even pierce corporate limited liability and leave one open to personal liability, though I doubt anything would come of that.

Comment by Occam

October 12, 2007 @ 6:56 pm

At that moment - whether or not it was thought that funds could be acquired in the future - at the moment a single rent deduction was taken from a pay packet and not forwarded to a landlord, that employee should have been told. This is a simple honesty/employer trust issue.

Agreed, I think we mean the same thing. I would argue that rent should have been forwarded no matter what other obligations existed. If it\’s a deduction, it should have been paid to landlords as, in a way, the money for rent existed.

The problem is that some time elapsed before the recruiting manager knew about this decision and was in a position to unilaterally stop recruits from arriving.

Comment by Ken Worsley

October 12, 2007 @ 7:06 pm

The problem is that some time elapsed before the recruiting manager knew about this decision and was in a position to unilaterally stop recruits from arriving.

That is a problem. I don’t think it mitigates responsibility on the corporate side, though. As I said, I don’t think there are bad individuals in these jobs that are hurting people, but there is a bad system. And blame for that lies with the top. If, for example, money is deducted for rents by one department and put into a fund that another department needs to pay the rents, one may argue that those who deducted the rents had no idea what was going on. But at some point, a decision was made not to actually pay the rents. Who decided to divert the funds? I’m betting that it was done under orders.

Comment by Phillip

October 12, 2007 @ 9:41 pm

More rumors today, but then, that’s all we have, given the corporate radio silence.

Japanese employees at many branches (including mine) have not been paid. Their payday should have been the 27th or 28th. Unconfirmed rumors that there will be another terse fax on Monday telling us we’re not getting paid. If that happens, it is the end.

The alternative, paying foreign employees on time whilst the Japanese employees’ checks are pushing 3 weeks late, is absolutely deplorable, and will only bring about resentment, even if it is quiet. I, for one, would feel immensely guilty.

I suppose the best case is that Japanese staff and foreign instructors both get paid on the 15th, but then it simply becomes a waiting game until next month.

Comment by Occam

October 12, 2007 @ 9:51 pm

But at some point, a decision was made not to actually pay the rents. Who decided to divert the funds? I’m betting that it was done under orders

Pretty close to the mark, Ken . BTW did you get my mail?

Comment by Phillip

October 13, 2007 @ 6:22 pm

Some rumors dis-spelled.

I can confirm that today, all instructors were informed that pay is being delayed to the 19th. This time, the fax from Sahashi was much less terse, even going so far as to apologize. My co-workers tell me that their room-mates are moving out slowly.

Japanese staff has still not been paid, to my knowledge.