EF Education First
3.7 out of 5 stars.
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EF Education First Employee Reviews

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3.5Work-Life Balance
3.1Pay & Benefits
3.2Job Security & Advancement
3.3Management
3.7Culture

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Family like environment, multicultural and fun with a lot of human interaction

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EF is fun environment for employees to thrive into, with certain core values like entrepreneurial spirit, teamwork, attention to details cost consciousness and high quality service; it is a very good professional environment where one can learn a lot , its fast pace rythm challanges you and pushes you to overcome your weaknesses and tanscand the obstacales, it's family like atmosphere alows for a good working environment that is quite enjoyable.
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OK Gig While Looking For A Better Job

The facilities in SF are nice, there's lots of supplies (markers, etc.), and the students are great but the pay is very low. You barely make minimum wage if you do any prep work. I didn't.Management is aloof and disorganized. It's not a place where you get any encouragement or support so if you need that, look elsewhere. Personally, I liked it. Lots of autonomy and no oversight. But there is no onboarding process so you have to figure everything out (timesheets, etc.) on your own. Other teachers are polite but I wouldn't say they're friendly (high turnover and competition for hours). Some of them seem like they have no training at all but then it isn't a real school so who cares. It's a business, the students are customers, and you're a glorified babysitter.EF's proprietary materials are terribly dated and replete with errors which can make you look bad at times but they make you use them.Do not call in sick. They'll reduce your hours. Do not put anything valuable in your locker. Trust me.The students are rich kids who gripe constantly about their living conditions in the Tenderloin which hurts morale and can make teaching difficult. Eventually, most of them realize they've overpaid (I paid less to attend Stanford) and decide it's a scam but it's sort of their fault for not doing due diligence first. EF marketing team are geniuses but prey on ignorant foreigners who don't know better.In short, a super easy job but not all that rewarding and not a very enjoyable atmosphere most of the time.

Pros

Nice facilities, lots of supplies, free background check

Cons

Poor leadership, bad (proprietary) materials, very low pay
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Overworked - under appreciated - in Chinese center

Depending on the city or center you work at, your schedule will be filled ASAP. Managers are promoted within the company, but not based on performance but seniority. To convince people to stay for another contract, they just promoted people. They're all about data yet the data doesn't accurately represent your how your doing. The pay was low compared to other training centers.

Pros

At the time, job security. Now, China is changing the rules and training centers might be going the way of the dinosaur.

Cons

Lots of unnecessary meetings. Pay was much lower than competitors. Managers were not trained well.
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Fun part time work

As a local activity leader, you need to move around a lot, like a tour guide + a teacher job. Fun if you like traveling, and exploring. Kids can be a handful but cute.
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If you’re desperate for a teaching job…

You get virtually no benefits, virtually no class prep time, insensitive and micro-managing supervisors. The only “good thing” is that you get paid, and you learn about what a toxic workplace can look like.This company is extremely disorganized, and see their students as customers first. This means that they would prioritize profit rather than help students by giving them honest and sincere opportunities for growth. Sometimes, the supervisors won’t even stoop to using emotional manipulation to get you to do what they want.

Pros

Teaching experience

Cons

Get paid 15 minutes of prep time for an 80 minute class, short lunch break
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Responsabilidades Excesivas, horas extras no renumeradas.

Dentro de la empresa existe esta cultura de laborar horas extras de lunes a viernes siempre aún cuando no son remuneradas, te exigen trabajar fines de semana (sábado y domingo seguidos) sin ser remunerados. Las comisiones son un chiste y los sueldos extremadamente bajos. Se manejan a través de el reconocimiento público, para presionar a sus empleados.

Pros

Seguro medico

Cons

Todo
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Great place to work

Great place to work. Well respected as a teacher. Payment always on time. Problems solved in timely manner. Training good . Curriculum well established.
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Decent place to work

Team leaders are helpful. There is clear communication about any issues. Management is approachable. The pay is decent if you work weekends and there is room for growth.
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Nice environment, low pay

My experience in EF is ok.The managers and colleagues are very friendly, but the pressure with sales is ridiculous.They have not done a good job with many clients abroad and the sales department has to deal with all those issues.
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Meet interesting people from around the world.

It's a company that is a leader in it's field and has been around for decades. You meet interesting people from around the world. It is great to work remotely and have flexibility to create your own schedule. The pay is not great, though.

Pros

Flexible schedules, remote work, meeting people from around the World.

Cons

Low pay
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Overall it is a good company

There are plenty of trainings from the beginning, your supervisors are willing to share as much as they know with you for the improvement of your job, the pay and work environment is good, overall it is a good company.

Pros

working environment, job advancement
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They paid for my move to China. It was all downhill from there

Awful work / life balance. Awful top level management: they froze my salary increases to make sure they could keep paying investors. They don't really care about the front-line staff, and would do anything to make a few more dollars, including lying to parents and students, lying or misleading staff, making staff work in unsafe conditions, not to mention regular exposure to Covid and other sick children. Their employment contracts are regularly amended and not in the employees best interest, they trap employees with the threat of having to pay visa and relocation costs. It's all very shady and they don't pay nearly enough to make it worth it. Ownership needs to make big changes or this company won't attract good employees

Pros

Great coworkers, paid relocation to China

Cons

Non-competitive wages, no work/life balance, poor vacation and leave, poor management and ownership
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The students were friendly.

The students were friendly and eager to learn. It was interesting to share experiences with them. Many of them preferred to talk and did not want a formal lesson.

Pros

Work from home

Cons

Low pay
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5 stars

What is the best part of working at the company?Making dreams come true for the studentsWhat is the most stressful part about working at the company?Meeting goes it placement timeWhat is the work environment and culture like at the company?Supportive people in the Boston office. Did not physically work in the Boston office as I was an independent contractor working from homeWhat is a typical day like for you at the company?Very busy during placement time otherwise supervising the placements
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You will be overworked and underpaid.

worked with some amazing people at EF. The teaching team is the most diverse I've ever come across - with a mix of ages, cultures, interests, etc. I met some real friends for life and I cannot recommend the team enough.But unfortunately, that's the only real positive. Oh, tell a lie. Sometimes they buy you donuts.The teaching team will consist of hourly teachers (90%) with the rest being made of up contracted staff. Hourly teachers are paid around £15 an hour whilst the contracted staff are paid roughly £20,000 a year. In a city that is one of the most expensive to live in, it is farcical that the company can happily pay so little. What's more, the teaching staff have not had a pay rise since 2016. The management will do everything they can to give hours to contracted staff (despite making promises to them that they won't be given all day shifts). This means that contracted staff end up earning about £10 an hour. Planning is not paid. Extra admin stuff (like filling in grades and schemes of work) is not paid. As you will most likely be working from 8:45am-5pm, most of your free time will be spent planning.You will be overworked and underpaid and if you even dare to question it you will be blacklisted and lose your hours. They have an incredibly high turnover of staff. I worked at EF Oxford for 15 months and must have worked with upwards of 60 different teachers. There are only 15 classrooms.Management are rude and obnoxious. Communication is extremely poor and there is a lot of favouritism of specific staff.They will try and sell you on career advancement by saying - 

Pros

Sometimes there would be donuts in the staff canteen, I think they paid for lunch a few times, The teaching team is amazing.

Cons

Not paid enough and the company do not want to do anything about it.
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Guter Arbeitsort

Ich hab den Sommer über als Activity Leader gearbeitet und es hat total Spaß gemacht! Das Team war cool drauf, die Kinder haben größtenteils keine Probleme bereitet und es war einfach ein echt guter Sommerjob. Würde ich jederzeit wieder machen.

Pros

Essens- und Transportkosten werden gestellt
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Ambiente stressante ma stimolante e paga ottima

Lavorato presso EF Dublino, ambiente stressante, no equilibrio vita lavoro ma paga ottima e colleghi fantastici
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Stimolante e dinamico

Lavorare in questa azienda ti permette di aprirti le porte ad un ambiente internazionale, potendo fare nuove conoscenze e imparare sempre cose nuove.
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Will suck the life out of you

Abominable pay, no security, bad management, no sense of community. The students are ok, but the cons don't make the job worth it. Avoid the company if you can.

Pros

Global company

Cons

No job security
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A Great way to develop as an ESL teacher and learn about life in China

There is a great team culture working for EF schools in China. Very welcoming and a range of different classes to train as a teacher and different age groups. I would recommend living and working in China and working with EF.
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Great campus

Great campus! Amazing meeting students from all over the world! Takes some time to understand the cycles, but once you get Into it’s fine.Management is really supportive, they don’t only support you but individual students too. The campus was beautiful, lunch was cheap, breakfast free!
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Overall rating

Based on 1,109 reviews

Ratings by category

3.5 out of 5 stars for Work/Life Balance
3.1 out of 5 stars for Salary/Benefits
3.2 out of 5 stars for Job Security/Advancement
3.3 out of 5 stars for Management
3.7 out of 5 stars for Culture

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