DON’T COME SAVE YOURSELF - Monkey Tree Teacher Monkey Tree English Learning Center Employee Review

Hi there, While we appreciate all feedback, we also regret that you have not directed your grievances to the appropriate internal channels and have also made objectively false statements about the company on a public forum. Most importantly, your description of the current unrest and claims about our commitment to our employees’ safety are simply untrue and not reflective of the reality of the situation in any way. As you are aware, our centers were all closed amid the most severe unrest when teachers were unable to travel to work, and specific centers are closed at other times when there are safety concerns in the local areas. At other times, many classes have been canceled and rearranged to allow teachers to leave two or three hours early, and teachers have been reimbursed for taxi and Uber fares where it has been their only means of getting to or from work. Anyone who has not been able to travel to work or has left work early has never had any money deducted from their salary. We have sent out numerous memos and messages to our employees reiterating that safety is a priority and that they should not put themselves in harm’s way for the sake of getting to work. This is something we absolutely stand by, and this has been evident in our response to this situation, which you have unfortunately chosen to misrepresent. It is also not correct to say all government schools were closed down for a period – classes were suspended as many students didn’t make it, but many teachers still were expected to travel as some students were still in attendance. When transportation has been disrupted by protesters, it has indeed been a very trying time for all residents of Hong Kong, including staff members working in our head office, who are no less affected than you. In reality, businesses and government organizations cannot and have not simply shut down unconditionally during this time, and to expect Monkey Tree to do so, when we have taken every step possible to ensure everyone’s safety, is not reasonable. In terms of your grievances with HR, if you do have an issue with a particular personnel member, there are many other liaisons and members of the management team available for you to reach out to. However, the reality is that HR cannot comply with all requests received and has to handle each complaint according to its merit, while also ensuring adherence to standards and protocol and carrying out discipline where necessary. Similarly, the notion that employees should be able to unilaterally select their own leave is not correct. No company would follow this practice – there must always be a process for leave applications that involves the possibility of rejection due to operational constraints. In reality, it is not possible for us to approve all requests for extra leave around existing holiday periods, such as Christmas, which become fully booked literally months in advance. In response to some feedback from teachers regarding our previous leave policy, we made alterations to introduce a more flexible system, with teachers being granted additional annual leave days to apply for throughout the year. Considering these days would have been granted to you as an additional benefit after employment commencement and were not included as part of your original contract, it does not seem reasonable to criticize the company for unfortunately needing to reject some of the resulting leave applications. Again, I would encourage you to reach out to us via employeerelations@monkeytree.com.hk to address and hopefully work through and resolve your grievances.