English Trainer - Anonymous employee goFLUENT Employee Review

2.0
Jan 28, 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Working with the students was very positive. The majority of the students have average to above-average English skills so the job can be interesting and you get exposed to various cultures. You are able to work from home and set your own hours (but you don't get paid for all of them). The people at the internal help desk are nice and helpful.

Cons

You spend a large amount of time not working and you aren't paid for it. The company requires that you have 20 hours of availability a week but you probably only work half of that time as you are only paid when giving lessons. Complexity and demands of the job frequently require you to perform work outside of paid work time so your hourly wage is actually going to be less than advertised. If you aren't bilingual, they also pay you a bit less. The first few weeks to a month after you're trained, you'll probably work less then 10 hours a week although they will require you to commit 20 hours of your time to being able to have lessons. There are slow times during the year when you'll have less lessons scheduled. Management doesn't do a good job of communicating which times of the year these are to its employees. There is little to no chance of being promoted as most corporate opportunities are restricted to the corporate headquarters in France. There is poor communication between management and employees. Many emails I sent to my manager and all to upper management were left unresponded to. Direct manager had poor interpersonal and email communication skills. Communication between upper management and lower level employees is rare and infrequent, although you'll be told how "busy" management is. As you work from home, there is no work culture to be a part of. There are frequent IT issues with their website and a lot of complaints from learners about this. Sometimes the chat room, which is required to be used in all lessons, doesn't work making it hard to give a lesson. Many promised new features IT features seem to never come appear. With the frequent IT issues, trainers are told to basically just deal with the situation and do their best. Probably pays $5+ less then what you could get paid hourly for the qualifications needed to perform the job once you're trained. Received $0.25 raise in 4 years time although performing at or close to the top of measured performance ratings. ZERO benefits. No paid vacation, no health insurance coverage even if availability is over 40 hours per week...although all the people working in the corporate headquarters in France take 5 weeks of vacation! The company constantly changes performance standards but does not pay employees for increasing complexity of the job. Many times the new standards are not explained well and employees are not able to meet standards due to poor communication from management.

Explore other reviews about goFLUENT

5.0
Sep 17, 2022
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You meet many interesting people around the world. The people who work for the company are friendly and helpful.

Cons

It's a fast-paced environment and can get very busy but that's not always a bad thing because it's never boring.

5
avatar
goFLUENT Response
3y
Thank you for your feedback. Indeed goFLUENT is a fast-paced company. There is no time to be bored. We are glad you like it and that you enjoy the friendly and supportive environment. We wish you much satisfaction in your position.
1.0
May 27, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

For a side hustle, maybe.

Cons

Toxic work environment, rules on the fly, no respect, arbitrary, shenanigans for not paying, changing payment methods in detriment of the trainers, negative work environment, completely unmotivating, never appreciate all the clients that appreciate a trainer, and politicize the teaching methodology to spread environmentalism and pro-big tech agenda ideals.

2
avatar
goFLUENT Response
1mo
This review raises a number of serious accusations, and we feel it's important to respond to them directly. Suggestions that the company engages in "shenanigans" to avoid paying trainers, advances political agendas or dismisses people for being honest simply do not reflect reality. Transparency is one of our core values, and payment structures, incentives, and policies are communicated very clearly. We also reject the suggestion that trainers are not respected. Trainers are at the centre of what we do, and respectful, professional communication is something we expect from everyone in the organisation. While your overall view is clearly very negative, spending more than eight years with the company suggests there were aspects of the role that continued to work for you over a very long period of time. We wish you the best going forward.
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