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 6,468 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 48% 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 improved by 1% over the last 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 (240) , Online English Teacher (199) , ESL Teacher (198) , Sales Coordinator (137) , Activity Leader (75) , Sales (75) , Online ESL Teacher (67) , Sales Consultant (64) , Manager (61) , Educational Tour Consultant (46) , Marketing (42) , Director (41) , EF Activity Leader (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 408 reviews)); "Overall really great culture and very easy to feel welcome!" ((in 338 reviews)); "Colleagues are great and share similar values for the most part." ((in 212 reviews)); "Great benefits and travel opportunities." ((in 167 reviews)); "The work environment can be fun and energetic." ((in 122 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 610 reviews)); "Employees are generally over worked and have an incredible amount of work for such a low salary." ((in 514 reviews)); "Poor management and lack of decisiveness from managers that have been stagnating in their roles for too many years." ((in 300 reviews)); "There can be long hours and you get told no on the phone quite often." ((in 155 reviews)); "Bad manager leading the country" ((in 119 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

(4,618 total reviews)

Edward Hult, Ph.D

62% approve of CEO

48% 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 4,618 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

Aug 6, 2025

Grin and Bear It

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Great perks - health insurance, time off, travel perks, in office events, tap Thursdays, fun location. They also hire great people.

Cons

Where to begin? 1. If you get travel as a perk, it is a lie that you’ll receive it after year one. Plenty of employees don’t get it until the 1.5 / 2 year mark. 2. The pay is terrible, especially if you have to pay $20/day for parking. I heard that EF likes to hire women because they’re more exploitable and a lot of them have partners that are the “real” breadwinners. 3. In order to excel in whatever product at EF, you need to put in at least 45 hours a week. No way around it, no way to grow without that, and growth isn’t given until an average of a 3 year mark with the company. So not unless you’re willing to spend 3 years grinning and bearing the monotonous grunt work, this place isn’t worth it. The toxic positivity creeps up fast unless you drink the proverbial Koolaid (and drink beer with the higher ups on tap Thursdays) and kiss up.

EF (Education First) Response

11mo

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We’re glad to hear you’ve enjoyed the benefits, office events, and the colleagues you’ve worked alongside during your time at EF. We’re sorry to hear about your concerns regarding travel opportunities, compensation, and career growth. We review our benefits and compensation packages regularly to ensure they remain competitive. Your claims surrounding female hires are concerning; we are very proud to be a company where over 50% of our leadership is female, and we take pride in all the opportunities we provide to our staff. We encourage you to reach out to hr@ef.com so that we can discuss this further. Thank you again for taking the time to share your thoughts.

3.0

Aug 6, 2025

Sales team was mismanaged and lacked structure

Tour consultant

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Anyone below the leadership level is fantastic to work with, and I love the friends I've made here. I was able to travel abroad for a week+ a few times throughout my time here. The company also had a decent health insurance plan.

Cons

They're going back to 4 days in-office, which costs a lot for Boston commuters. The pay is poor compared to other sales positions in Boston. You will work 15 jobs in 1 in my experience. The management team also did not listen to those of us that actually spoke to the customers, and made decisions that didn't seem like they aligned at all with what we asked for per the customers.

EF (Education First) Response

11mo

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We’re glad to hear you valued the travel opportunities, benefits, and relationships you built during your time here! We’re sorry to hear about your concerns with management and workload, and we encourage you to reach out to hr@ef.com so we can learn more. At EF, our business is built upon bringing people together across borders and cultures, and we want to make sure our offices can reflect that. We encourage any current employees to reach out to their manager or Recruitment and Employee Development (RED) Team if they want to discuss our in-office policy further.

5.0

Aug 6, 2025

Great experience

Activities coordinator

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Loved working there so i came back

Cons

Had a great experience so no cons

EF (Education First) Response

11mo

Thanks for sharing your experience, it's so great to hear that you enjoyed working with us!

Viewing 223 - 225 of 4,618 Reviews

Jobs at EF (Education First)

Public Sector Account Manager, Inside Sales & Client Success