English Language Editing In Chiang Mai

[photojourn]

The following is provided as information for prospective applicants of the dealing I had with one company in Chiang Mai who are currently advsrtising to fill the vacancy created when I refused to sign their workplace contract.

I had some discussions with a company called Fantaji while I was in Australia for the Christmas/New Year break.

I was subsequently offered a job by Fantaji as editor with a salary of TB 50,000 per month, medical coverage and a work visa.

I was told that my role would be copy editing material written in English by Thai copywriters.

When I arrived in Chiang Mai I found that Fantaji, which describes itself as an IT staff outsourcing company, is simply performing work in Thailand for other companies owned by the same management and owners in other obscure nations and recognised tax havens.

The aim of the company is to generate internet traffic to websites it creates by purporting to contain independent reviews of consumer electronics products that hold considerable interest with consumers in North America and Europe and have their web pages appear in the top Google search results.

However far from containing any original material the Thai writers were to take material from sites that had already performed in-depth reviews of products, such as Amazon.com, PCMagazine, Cnet.com, etc. and re-write this material, along with comments posted on these sites by genuine satisfied or unsatisfied customers and give it the appearance of being fresh material. In other words plagiarism.

My role was to turn the re-writing attempts of the Thai writers into material that had the appearance of being written by native English language journalists and reviewers.

After training the Thai writers English grammar and writing styles, as well as teaching them how to use search engines and re-write the material in a manner that was as far removed from plagiarism as possible, I was presented with a work contract by Fantaji.

Amongst the gems this company expected an expatriate to agree to is (these terms are not word-for word, but rather written in a better form of English than used in the original documents. The intent and meaning are the same though):

1. The employee will meet all of the costs associated with obtaining and maintaining a non-immigrant class B visa for the duration of employment.

2. The company can terminate the employment without cause at any given time and pay the employee the sum of TB 35,000. (well below the monthly salary)

3. If the employee ceases to be employed by the company he/she will not work for another similar company either in direct or indirect competition with the employer for a period of three years. (Thai staff are prevented from doing the same for six months)

Further, the medical coverage contained in the original letter of offer from Matthieu Bellemare, the de facto managing director (his wife is managing director while the company becomes registered in Thailand), was limited to injuries sustained during office hours only. Far from the normal level provided in an expatriate package.

Other cute details contained in the employment contract you can expect to be asked to sign, as all Thai staff have had to sign, are:

"A minimum of eight days annual leave" will be provided – totally ludicrous as it neither states whether these are paid holidays, nor the maximum number of days that will be provided with pay.

Staff are required to give one years notice prior to taking annual leave.

If you are sick and absent from work for more than four hours you are required to produce a medical certificate.

Staff who wish to smoke must do so "a minimum of 30 metres" from the building.

The company also blocks access to all non-essential web sites, such as YahooMail, except between designated break periods - 15 minutes in the morning and afternoon and an unpaid one hour lunch break.

Staff are instructed to the minute of their break times and if not back at work at the exact designated time are questioned and liable to dismissal under the one verbal and one written warning system used by tyrannical employers in some Western countries.

Employee's are only permitted to listen to music if they use headphones, and in true Orwellian fashion, the de facto managing director and other management, use Apple remote desktop to view what is being displayed on the screens of all staff from their offices.

After having lived and worked in Asia for over 10 years I have never seen such a ridiculous and onerous work contract presented to an expatriate employee before.

Likewise, I have never worked in an office where staff moral is so low, or come across a foreign employer so critical of local staff for not being as technologically literate or quick at comprehending new technology as a Westerner, or critical for the time they take to write in what is not their native language as this company.

The company is now attempting to fill the vacancy left as a result of my refusal to sign their draconian work contract with advertising on this website. For the six-day a week, 8 am to 5 pm role, the company is now offering a salary of between TB 35,000 and 50,000.

If you do not have any problems with any of the above then I heartily recommend you to apply for this position. The offices are modern and comfortable, it's only the conditions of employment and the ethics being followed that I find repugnant.

In the meantime, anyone looking for a highly experienced and skilled journalist, editor, etc?

[jdinasia]

If your response to today's Portable zipcode article shows your level of critical thinking (needed for a decent editor) well ......

[ChiangMaiThai]

Where in CM is this gem of a company?

The job itself doesn't sound illegal, just a little sleazy. But I'm sure it's done all the time.

The terms of the contract are crazy. Sad thing is that so many Thais have no choice, but to agree.

35,000-50,000 with health insurance that covers only on the job accidents. Not exactly the expatriate package you dream about.

[photojourn]

Where in CM is this gem of a company?

The job itself doesn't sound illegal, just a little sleazy. But I'm sure it's done all the time.

The terms of the contract are crazy. Sad thing is that so many Thais have no choice, but to agree.

35,000-50,000 with health insurance that covers only on the job accidents. Not exactly the expatriate package you dream about.

Oh it gets better. The company now has a security guard and none of it's seven staff (inlcudes 4 managers) are permitted in the building without their ID cards.

It's inhouse lawyer resigned and the GM told his wife to tell the lawyer to get of the premises as he didn't want to see her face around the building; and a very good PA who had been paying for English lessons from her own pocket for the last two months was fired because she couldn't communicate effectievly with the GM.

It was the "cannot work for a company in direct or indirect competition for three years" after leaving that was the most stupid.

They're located in a soi off Changklan Road close to Changklan plazza.

[toptuan]

I had just read the job posting for this position within an hour of coming across your post. It looked good, initially. However, thanks for the service you've done for our TV members. What an eye-opener.

I am adamantly opposed to the lousy ethics represented by the core of this company's written material--steal and rewrite, making it your own, and profiting from it. Sadly, it's a natural progression from what Thai students learn to do in school--virtually no original research, just copy and paste (often with NO rewriting).

[photojourn]

I had just read the job posting for this position within an hour of coming across your post. It looked good, initially. However, thanks for the service you've done for our TV members. What an eye-opener.

I am adamantly opposed to the lousy ethics represented by the core of this company's written material--steal and rewrite, making it your own, and profiting from it. Sadly, it's a natural progression from what Thai students learn to do in school--virtually no original research, just copy and paste (often with NO rewriting).

Ahhhh, but the thing is this is being done by Canadians.

More importantly, the local staff were being regarded as less than intelligent because they were being asked to write on topics they were not familiar with, using terminology they are not familiar with.

It was a boring, almost daily battle defending the writers and trying to stop them being fired because they were deemed to be not writing fast enough.

The whole aim of the company is to manipulate Google search results and as there is no checking on whether the local writers get it right or not - only grammar and sentence structure - the accuracy of what people find when they search for topics such as Garmin GPS units and other consumer electronics items will be questionable -- further degrading the internet as a referece source.

[ChiangMaiThai]

Here they are:

http://th.jobsdb.com/TH/EN/Job.asp?R=JDBT068413412

If anyone should realize this it should be them:

In this day and age when you treat your employees like s**t and enact questionable business practices, then you're going to end up on the Internet on a site like this with 4 million page views per month.

[photojourn]

Here they are:

http://th.jobsdb.com/TH/EN/Job.asp?R=JDBT068413412

If anyone should realize this it should be them:

In this day and age when you treat your employees like s**t and enact questionable business practices, then you're going to end up on the Internet on a site like this with 4 million page views per month.

Good point.

Looking at their advertisement and the English grammar and spelling used throughout only reinforces what the flashing red banner states - urgently required.

With English spelt as "Engligh", copy writer spelt with a capital "c", and only a need for "quasi-perfect (apparently but not really: partly: almost) English grammar." Not to mention the use of three exclamation marks and "oral communication skill."

Many bar girls have excellent oral skills, but I would suggest what is needed in the workplace is verbal communication skills.

Oh dear, the need is greater than perhaps they even realise.

Edited April 17, 2008 by photojourn

[johnnyk]

Good job outing them.

Saves people time and energy going through the motions with sleazos.

[LivinLOS]

The company may itself be a sleezeball outfit however

The company also blocks access to all non-essential web sites, such as YahooMail, except between designated break periods - 15 minutes in the morning and afternoon and an unpaid one hour lunch break.

Staff are instructed to the minute of their break times and if not back at work at the exact designated time are questioned and liable to dismissal under the one verbal and one written warning system used by tyrannical employers in some Western countries.

Employee's are only permitted to listen to music if they use headphones, and in true Orwellian fashion, the de facto managing director and other management, use Apple remote desktop to view what is being displayed on the screens of all staff from their offices.

I am not so unsure I wouldnt have similar rules.. Having seen how Thais are apt to sit there playing on screen card games while blatantly ignoring customers in even a front desk situation in full view, I dread to think how they would be when 'self motivated' and not on a piecework rate.

[photojourn]

The company may itself be a sleezeball outfit however

I am not so unsure I wouldnt have similar rules.. Having seen how Thais are apt to sit there playing on screen card games while blatantly ignoring customers in even a front desk situation in full view, I dread to think how they would be when 'self motivated' and not on a piecework rate.

I understand where you are coming from but in this instance the writers were professional, committed, dedicated, enthusiastic, and competent - up until the time all of this started and they were hammered for returning 15 minutes late from a lunch function they had been taken to by the company lawyer. Now they are just there for the money, have no dedication, committment or loyalty and are being taught nothing to boost their level of skills.

More importantly, they were being supervised, monitored, and mentored from four metres away by me. The same rules were applied to the foreign staff as well.