ESS reviews

3.7

65% would recommend to a friend

(1,481 total reviews)
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Buddy Helton

59% approve of CEO

50% positive business outlook

ESS has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 1,481 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The ESS employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Human Resources & Staffing industry (3.8 stars).

Reviews by job title

1K reviews
2.0
May 20, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There is a lot of flexibility with your work schedule. The pay is O.K., but not enough for the stress involved. No two days are alike.

Cons

Lack of sufficient support from management. Lack of enough training. Many times you don't know what you'll face when you arrive in the classroom. One problem with classroom management, even noise level, and the school can eliminate you.

1.0
Jan 22, 2026

Don't do it

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Developing high blood pressure Walking on eggshells High anxiety Always wondering if today will be the day you get fired Company threatening your job

Cons

You will get written up for nepharious reasons. Infractions will be embellished to fit an HR narrative based on a subjective opinion. Anyone from teachers, admin and students can literally make up anything they want about you and you will be terminated with no investigation. Everything you do or say gets turned into an HR file complete with labeling words to make you look bad. You cannot trust anyone, do not be fooled. HR is never on your side. For this reason I don't believe there is a shortage of subs. They're out there. It's petty people in power positions that are making it the way it is. Micromanagement at its best. Add this to the shi$show of what education has become

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ESS Response
4mo
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We appreciate you providing your perspective and understand how important communication and trust are in the workplace. We are continually working to make improvements whenever possible.
1.0
Nov 23, 2025

They Don't Actually Care

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Lot's of Vacation Days, Sick, PTO, if you ever get to take them - probably won't.

Cons

I worked for ESS on the corporate side after previously serving as a substitute for them, so I saw both ends of the operation. What stood out most was how little support substitutes actually received and how little accountability existed internally. Subs were often sent into classrooms with almost no information, no lesson plans, no guidance, and in many cases were moved around campus without explanation. The upper management doesn't care and discourages any attempts to improve quality, customer experience, support, etc which makes absolutely no sense. On the corporate side, I ran into significant resistance when I tried to improve things for the substitutes. They put people into leadership positions due to them being there for a long time. These people couldn't lead a horse to water. I experienced being berated, racism, and job sabotage for wanting to make improvements to my job and our processes which were broken and no one cared. There was also a dismissive attitude toward substitutes that was hard to ignore. The managers seem to have come there to collect a check and didn't actually care about the students, the quality of service, nothing- lacked basic business/marketing logic. Would rather keep things the same even if the result was counterproductive to their goals. Not to mention the punishment towards those who actually had leadership skills and solutions. HR is buddied up with leadership and doesn't have a clue. False accusations, blatant lies, favoritism, jealousy and bullying ignored. Regional managers can basically say whatever they want regardless of if it's true or not and no one will challenge them. That's what you can look forward to. It's a habit for them based on what I've heard. This company is doomed to fail. They'd better hurry and sell it again before the value goes down tremendously because ESS is in its last days. The company had lots of potential but too many vulnerabilities due to employees being more number focused than people focused. The CEO needs to step down and the whole company needs an overhaul. Those at the very top seem too far removed from what's happening with middle management and middle management will cause them all to lose their investments.

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ESS Response
6mo
Thank you for sharing your feedback and for your years of service with ESS. We take concerns about company culture and support seriously. If you have specific issues you’d like addressed, please reach out to HRHelp@ESS.com so our team can assist you directly.
Viewing 34 - 36 of 1,481 Reviews

Glassdoor has 1,847 ESS reviews submitted anonymously by ESS employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if ESS is right for you.