Is ESS a good company to work for?

ESS has an overall rating of 3.7 out of 5, based on over 1,848 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has decreased by 4% over the last 12 months. 65% of employees would recommend working at ESS to a friend and 50% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about ESS have been left by employees working as Teacher , Subsitute Teacher and Building Substitute Teacher .

Does ESS pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, ESS employees rate their compensation and benefits as 2.7 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at ESS. This rating has decreased by 8% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at ESS?

65% of ESS employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated ESS 4.0 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.3 for culture and values and 3.1 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at ESS?

Substitute Teacher (981) , Paraprofessional (90) , Long Term Substitute Teacher (33) , Teacher (28) , Special Education Paraprofessional (25) , Subsitute Teacher (24) , Substitute (20) , Recruiter (18) , Certified Substitute Teacher (17) , Account Manager (16) , Building Substitute Teacher (16) , Substitute Paraprofessional (14) , Substitute/Guest Teacher (9) , District Manager (7) , Teacher Assistant (6)

What are the pros of working at ESS according to real employee reviews?

"Scheduling is flexible and easy to work with" ((in 106 reviews)); "Competitive pay, flexible schedule, some benefits" ((in 76 reviews)); "Flexible hours You know your pay upfront Paid every other week pick up assignments suddenly or ahead of time" ((in 47 reviews)); "Also great people to work with in the school system" ((in 22 reviews)); "Management can be good or bad." ((in 18 reviews))

What are the cons of working at ESS according to real employee reviews?

"The pay is low but this is why the company has a lot of partnered schools" ((in 280 reviews)); "No benefits unless you want your entire paycheck to go towards the benefit plan they offer." ((in 89 reviews)); "No training for Special Needs." ((in 37 reviews)); "Poor communication and support" ((in 24 reviews)); "To much work for the bad salary" ((in 19 reviews))

What are the top reviewed ESS locations?

Cherry Hill , Philadelphia , Jacksonville , Savannah , Elizabeth , Portland , Frisco , Denton , Newark , Atlantic City , Toms River , Little Rock , New Brunswick , Union , Roanoke , Chattanooga , Houston , Englewood , Piscataway , Camden , Hampton , Dallas , Hillsboro , Tampa , Edison , Jersey City , Woodbridge , Burlington , Lehi , Orem

ESS reviews

3.7

65% would recommend to a friend

(1,481 total reviews)

Buddy Helton

60% approve of CEO

50% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

4.0

Work/Life balance

3.7

Diversity & inclusion

3.3

Culture & values

3.2

Senior management

3.1

Career opportunities

2.7

Compensation and benefits

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).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

1K reviews

2.0

Nov 20, 2025

HR Alert

Substitute teacher

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible schedule LOCAL ONLY managers seemed nice.

Cons

Corporate HR employees are very young and inexperienced. Do not speak professionally and spoke to me as if they were communicating with a peer that they were trying to win an argument. Strange. Did not make any type of support for me and when the ESS employee communicated with a school they didn’t call me to discuss an issue that never happened with me. They threw me under the bus to appear as handling the situation and said I could no longer work at the school. FYI it was my children’s school and the situation was extremely embarrassing and I had no way whatsoever to communicate so I was left to be perceived as doing something wrong. This was after working at the school for 6 years! Extremely poor and unprofessional and lack of experience managing this issue. They didn’t ask me about the situation and just cut me from working at the school. Before this I only ever received excellent reviews and compliments from both students, teachers, and administration. So unprofessional and disappointing!

1.0

Sep 24, 2025

Be warned everyone

Substitute teacher

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Work when you want. Flexable

Cons

Don't take last second calls. You get penalized for being late. Not fair at all. It takes 40 minutes to drive to the school and you accept a job no one else wants on my day off just to get penalized. I could head straight there but got a call last minute while in PJs and get penalized for that. Get pulled over for expired tags when you don't have money to pay for tags and penalized again.

ESS Response

8mo

Thank you for sharing your experience. We appreciate your feedback and are glad you’ve valued the flexibility of the role.

2.0

Sep 23, 2025

Lack of support from ESS staff

Long term substitute teacher

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

I'll let you know once i think of it.

Cons

Staff will side with schools immediately over false reports. A school employee threatened to physically assault me. That person got suspended for 3 days and returned to the same school, then the school immediately made up a lie about me to keep their employee and have me removed instead of the other way around. ESS did nothing but take a brief statement fro me and put it in their so-called files. I thought about filing a police report and still may.

ESS Response

8mo

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We’re sorry to hear about the challenges you faced and appreciate you providing this feedback.

Viewing 82 - 84 of 1,481 Reviews

Jobs at ESS

GENERAL HELPER (FULL TIME)

GENERAL HELPER (FULL TIME)

HEAD COOK (FULL TIME)

PORTER/JANITOR - SEWARD (SEASONAL)

DISHWASHER (FULL TIME)

ESS

ESS reviews

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Reviews by job title

HR Alert

Be warned everyone

Lack of support from ESS staff

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