Is EF (Education First) a good company to work for?

EF (Education First) has an overall rating of 3.4 out of 5, based on over 6,456 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months. 61% of employees would recommend working at EF (Education First) to a friend and 47% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about EF (Education First) have been left by employees working as Sales Manager , Director and Intern .

Does EF (Education First) pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, EF (Education First) employees rate their compensation and benefits as 2.9 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at EF (Education First). This rating has been stable over the past 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at EF (Education First)?

61% of EF (Education First) employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated EF (Education First) 3.2 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.7 for culture and values and 3.2 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at EF (Education First)?

English Teacher (293) , Teacher (246) , Tour Consultant (238) , Online English Teacher (199) , ESL Teacher (198) , Sales Coordinator (137) , Sales (74) , Activity Leader (73) , Online ESL Teacher (67) , Sales Consultant (63) , Manager (61) , Educational Tour Consultant (46) , Marketing (42) , EF Activity Leader (40) , Sales Associate (40)

What are the pros of working at EF (Education First) according to real employee reviews?

"Met some great people and walked away from each class with a smile on my face." ((in 426 reviews)); "Overall really great culture and very easy to feel welcome!" ((in 323 reviews)); "Colleagues are great and share similar values for the most part." ((in 213 reviews)); "Great benefits and travel opportunities." ((in 172 reviews)); "The work environment can be fun and energetic." ((in 119 reviews))

What are the cons of working at EF (Education First) according to real employee reviews?

"You'll be doing a lot of work for low pay and have no life outside of EF." ((in 602 reviews)); "Salary is low and at times managers can be unrealistic team and individual targeted goals." ((in 524 reviews)); "Poor management and lack of decisiveness from managers that have been stagnating in their roles for too many years." ((in 307 reviews)); "There can be long hours and you get told no on the phone quite often." ((in 152 reviews)); "Bad manager leading the country" ((in 128 reviews))

What are employees saying about EF (Education First) layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about EF (Education First) layoffs and their outlook for job security at EF (Education First) in 2026.

What are the top reviewed EF (Education First) locations?

Boston , Cambridge , Denver , Tarrytown , San Diego , Austin , New York , San Francisco , Thornwood , Santa Barbara , Miami , Chicago , Miami Beach , Brighton , Los Angeles , Washington , Honolulu , Atlanta , China , Redondo Beach , Remote , Long Beach , Pasadena , Monterey , China Grove , Dallas , Houston , Seattle , Portland , Baltimore

EF (Education First) reviews

3.4

61% would recommend to a friend

(4,611 total reviews)

Edward Hult, Ph.D

61% approve of CEO

47% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

3.8

Diversity & inclusion

3.7

Culture & values

3.2

Work/Life balance

3.2

Career opportunities

3.1

Senior management

2.9

Compensation and benefits

EF (Education First) has an employee rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars, based on 4,611 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The EF (Education First) employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Education industry (3.8 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

5K reviews

3.0

Apr 15, 2020

Decent starting place

Tour consultant

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Travel perks are fun and flashy. If you don't care about making your goals/bonus, the job itself is pretty easy. Lots of opportunities for drinking and eating. I would say perfect for a person who is just getting started on their career path

Cons

It's disheartening how insular EF is and how unrepresentative the office is of America's diverse workspace. I experience white culture shock regularly...and I'm pretty used to white people. In order to feel included here, you have to accept that you joined a sorority/fraternity and make the best of it. Setting personal boundaries may lead to discussions about your fit for the role, depending on your manager. Don't get me started on the management. And HR is basically non-existent. You are given a general message that you are replaceable from the beginning.

EF (Education First) Response

6y

Thank you for sharing your feedback. We appreciate your candor and couldn’t agree more on the importance of Diversity and Inclusion. This is a critical priority across the EF organization and hiring a diverse workforce is at the center of our ongoing recruitment efforts. We know our business will thrive the most when our employee base reflects the diversity of our world. As a current EF Denver employee, we hope that you will help us with this effort. I encourage you to talk with the central recruitment and development team, both to share your feedback and to drive new ideas. We are committed to increasing our diversity and to making sure that everyone who works at EF feels a sense of belonging. We hope you’ll join, because we know we need passionate voices to help us in this important work.

1.0

Mar 24, 2020

Worst job in my 29 years of working.

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

I took this job because i got to drive around the USA

Cons

Terrible management to much favoritism

EF (Education First) Response

6y

Hello and thank you for your feedback. Sorry to hear working at EF is not a living up to your expectations. We know we are not perfect and we are always trying to improve. We do not tolerate harassment or favoritism of any kind, please reach out to your your local RED team (Recruitment & Development) to discuss your input and we will do what we can to help. Best regards

1.0

Jan 27, 2020

Only work here if you’re white and ok with being paid extremely below market

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

You get to travel, but you don’t really get to choose the location. Great office space. Peers are nice.

Cons

The company tricks you into thinking free trips will pay the bills. Entry level salary is around $38-40K. There is bonus potential for sales staff but it’s minimal and no other roles have bonus potential. The lack of diversity is a joke, there are so few people of color that there are whole teams of 20+ people where everyone is white. If you have student loans or want to make a decent wage as a college-educated young professional, don’t come here because you will constantly be broke.

EF (Education First) Response

6y

Thank you for this feedback. We are committed to building the diversity of our workforce and ensuring that all employees feel a sense of belonging at EF. In terms of salary, we regularly review our compensation package to ensure we are competitive in the market - this includes our fantastic benefits package. I'd be happy to chat more. Feel free to reach out to me at emily.mantell@ef.com. Thank you!

Viewing 88 - 90 of 4,611 Reviews

Jobs at EF (Education First)

ESL Teacher - Summer 2026

Activity Leader-Summer

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