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) , ESL Teacher (199) , Online English Teacher (199) , 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?

"The company is great for people right out of college and that have an interest in education and travel." ((in 413 reviews)); "Overall really great culture and very easy to feel welcome!" ((in 332 reviews)); "Colleagues are great and share similar values for the most part." ((in 211 reviews)); "Great benefits and travel opportunities." ((in 163 reviews)); "Fun work environment and coworkers." ((in 113 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 601 reviews)); "Employees are generally over worked and have an incredible amount of work for such a low salary." ((in 509 reviews)); "Poor management and lack of decisiveness from managers that have been stagnating in their roles for too many years." ((in 321 reviews)); "There can be long hours and you get told no on the phone quite often." ((in 159 reviews)); "Bad manager leading the country" ((in 123 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

(4,610 total reviews)

Edward Hult, Ph.D

61% approve of CEO

47% positive business outlook

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

EF (Education First) has an employee rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars, based on 4,610 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).

Reviews by job title

5K reviews

1.0

Jan 8, 2026

EF

Finacial analyst

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Good employees with good atmosphere

Cons

messy company to work for

EF (Education First) Response

5mo

Hi, thanks for sharing. Good to hear that you enjoyed the colleagues and atmosphere in the London office, but we are sorry to hear that the rest of your experience was so negative. It’s difficult to address your concerns without more specific context, and we'd appreciate hearing from you directly at hr@ef.com to learn more. Thanks again for taking the time to share your experience with us.

3.0

Jan 7, 2026

Warning

Sales coordinator

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Great colleagues. Occasionally nice work events.

Cons

-Salary is really low compared to what you can get at most other companies. -The KPI's are super high, work is both very repetitive and mentally draining. Burnouts are extremely common. -They claim that in 2-3 years, you can move positions within the company. This is rarely the case -Very strict working hours. WFH is not generally allowed. On Mondays you are expected to work until 7pm - May be expected to carry an emergency phone and work computer on your off-time without adequate compensation. -You need to keep track of your bonuses, they often might forget to pay you otherwise -Employee turnover is extremely high. They are not doing anything about it. Their model seems to be to exploit young employees and then replace them whenever convenient.

EF (Education First) Response

5mo

Thank you for sharing your experience as a Sales Coordinator in Stockholm with us. The concerns you’ve raised around workload, burnout, and turnover are not reflective of the environment we recognize within our teams there. While we have high expectations for the level of work, we also want to make sure everyone feels supported in meeting their goals. To that aim, we recently rolled out a new career ladder for sales roles in EF Language Abroad, where promotion is possible every 6 months at the beginning of your career. Employee turnover has also steadily declined since the pandemic. Creating a supportive and open workplace is important to us, and we encourage ongoing dialogue with our People & Culture representative in Sweden. We invite you to reach out directly to hr@ef.com if you would like to talk further or share additional context so we can fully address your concerns. Thanks again for taking the time to share your experience with us.

2.0

Jan 6, 2026

OK stepping stone-not for careers

Account manager

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Travel benefits 1-2x a year. most staff are friendly and open minded

Cons

Over the past few years, management has gotten extremely corporate with little regard for their employees virtually zero upward mobility unless you are friends with senior executives heavy drinking at parties leading to toxic behaviors very clearly profit driven regardless of consequences Has continuously stripped away benefits contributing to work life balance, starting with incredibly unfair WFH standards that are not equal across the company Clearly displays signs of distress and scrambling during recession periods

EF (Education First) Response

5mo

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience as an Account Manager in Denver. It's great to hear you value the travel opportunities and the colleagues you’ve worked with over the years! We’re sorry to hear about your concerns around leadership, mobility and work-life balance. Your claims of toxic workplace are especially concerning and we ask that you to reach out to hr@ef.com so that we can investigate this further. As a current employee, we also encourage you to share these concerns directly with your manager and Recruitment and Employee Development (RED) Team so we can better understand and address them. Thank you again for sharing your feedback.

Viewing 94 - 96 of 4,610 Reviews

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