Page 6 - ELG2111 Nov Issue 478

NEWS .

Fast-food chains trump

UK Dos salary rates

By Melanie Butler job site for the hospitality industry do not compete with the salaries that they offer their EFL managers
Forty per cent of all the UK were at manager or assistant offered in hospitality. salaries on the education scale,
jobs listings on one major EFL manager level. A Dos position in the northwest typically £35,000 to £43,000 pro
recruitment website in October Brexit is often cited as a factor of England, for example, was rata. However, unlike their peers
were for a director of studies in hospitality management advertised at £25,000 a year, a little in other subjects, EFL managers
(Dos), a Gazette investigation can shortages, with hiring and staff more than the £24,000 offered to are required to work during the
reveal. Further, our analysis shows retention the biggest problems, trainee managers at McDonald’s summer holiday period.
that typical pay rates for a Dos according to a recent survey and less than the £28,000 on offer Average Dos salaries quoted
are now below those on offer at published in Big Hospitality for a manager of a nearby branch on Glassdoor show two large
Kentucky Fried Chicken. magazine. One-third of employers of Kentucky Fried Chicken. The chains, EF and EC, also have pay
The problem appears to be are reported to have responded by KFC rate is still below the median rates in the £30,000 to £41,000
limited to Britain. Of 172 EFL jobs improving terms and conditions. average salary in the region which, range. Both providers score highly
in 32 countries listed on the same Many language schools in 2020, was £30,000, according to on inspections and tend to run
job site, just 15 were for a Dos, but see themselves as part of the the Office for National Statistics. large schools with high academic
of these 80% were UK-based. hospitality industry and indeed Median incomes are used rather manager-to-teacher ratios and
The pandemic has led to ‘the there are clear similarities when than the mean average, because class sizes of 15-plus.
great resignation’, with 38% of it comes to the factors creating then the figure is not distorted by It should be noted that the
workers quitting their jobs or staff shortages, such as Brexit. a few high income individuals. Glassdoor listings had a tiny
planning to do so, according to the However, terms and conditions The £32,000 quoted by a sample size and did not factor
BBC. The key factor behind the are notoriously poor and retention language school in London is below in location. However, other EFL
decision to go is how the sector of academic managers during the the KFC rate for the capital, but on chains listed on the site had salary
in general, and their employer pandemic has clearly been low a par with the rate for an assistant ranges of £31,000 to £36,000.
in particular, dealt with them or fewer schools would now be manager at a well-known sandwich These chains have smaller
during the pandemic. Whether looking for Dosses. shop chain. The median average schools and higher management-
the Dosses of the UK were made Take salaries. While 90% salary in the capital is £37,900. to-teacher ratios, according to
redundant or quit of their own of adverts for hospitality The £32,000 to £35,000 on offer their inspection reports, and
accord is unclear, but anecdotal management now publish the at a south coast school is in line these are both risk indicators for
evidence suggests they are not salary, for private language with hospitality norms in the region school failure. Indeed, one of the
applying for new Dos jobs. schools that drops to less than and around the median wage of chains with this profile is now
EFL is not the only UK sector half. Typically, a school just states £34,000. However, the school is in liquidation.
where the great resignation has that rates of pay are ‘competitive’. owned by an education group. Other private language schools
led to a shortage of managers. However, the limited evidence A quick analysis of recruitment do pay education salary scales, but
Forty per cent of all adverts on a we’ve unearthed suggests they ads of such employers suggests only to non-academic managers.
One small chain advertised for
a centre manager on £35,000 to
PHOTO BY SHUTTERSTOCK managers with experience of the
£45,000 a year. Applications from
hospitality sector were specifically
welcomed and no knowledge
of EFL was needed. The advert
made clear the Dos would cover
the academic side and lead the
school through the upcoming
accreditation inspection.
Unfortunately, the centre
concerned doesn’t currently have
a Dos. An advert for the vacant
Dos post at the same school on the
same web page includes a long list
of qualifications needed and the
number of years of EFL experience
required. Remuneration, however,
was described as ‘competitive’.
Unless this post is filled before
the inspection, the school could
be in trouble because, while you
can get through an inspection
without a centre manager, having
a Dos (or at least an acting Dos)
is a condition of accreditation for
most year-round schools.
6 November 2021