Move Along to a Company that values You - Special Education Paraeducator ESS Employee Review

2.0
Dec 7, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

1. Easy Interview 2. Easy to get hired 3. Hard to get fired (provided no misconduct with students or a history of such) 4. Hours are dependent on the school you work at. Advice : get in good with the employees of a school and get hired by the district directly if you wanna stay in the field or in the school. 4.5/-1. Every School Holiday is off which is also a negative on account of no pay. Yeah good luck explaining to your family why from December 24 until January 1st you were paid nothing. Little Timmy is gonna find out just how fake Santa Claus is when you got no money to fundraise for the jolly old guy. 5. It has reinvigorated me with a sense of purpose in looking for a new job because of how much care I have to put in and how low the resulting pay is.

Cons

1. Very LOW Pay 2. Bad Insurance plans offered 3. Because you are considered a "contracted" employee you get no holiday and no sick pay and until the 2019-2020 school year no PTO either. Now we get 5 PTO days per school year. And of course on their company website you are not included in the count of "31 total employees" 4. If you have to quarantine due to Covid and stay home, you get no pay whatsoever. 5. Required to do a bunch of mindless "Trainings", yet no one can tell you that you should or "how to" apply for Unemployment during the Summer weeks or during Christmas break. 6. They tout themselves as paying $15/hour or "$110 per diem"(per day), but if you factor all the school holidays and all the summer days you do not work it actually breaks down to more like 9.50/hour. 7. They DO NOT KNOW what the environment is like at schools you may be working at, hence why all employees at my rank are paid the same even though those that work in harder environments. 8. As of 2020-2021 school year there has been no raise in Pay despite everyone being on Unemployment and the company not having to pay anyone since April 2 until September. 9. In order to get hired you have to pay for all of your background checks, security clearances, etc out of your own pocket before you can even begin to work. 10. Every year they change payroll providers just to save on taxes. And when you are getting hired they have you a sign a bunch of forms that explicitly state you are helping them save on taxes by signing them and you cannot be hired until you do. So they are tax cheats as well. Forcing people to help them not pay taxes cause God knows Millionaires & Billionaires are always hurting. But Fudge if they make me sign a form to help me or my coworkers save on taxes. 11. Honestly I am losing money and Sanity EVERY DAY I AM WITH THIS ORGANIZATION.

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ESS Response
5y
We’re terribly sorry to hear that you’re not satisfied with your experience working with us and we want to make it better. Our industry has been hit hard by this pandemic, but we’re working with our partnering districts to offer alternative opportunities for our employees wherever possible. We also strive to influence increased pay rates in the districts we serve. Regarding benefits, we do offer a variety of insurance options including medical, dental, vision, life, disability, critical illness, and accident – please refer to the Resources portal of our website for more information. We appreciate your detailed input and will take it into consideration to better our company.

Explore other reviews about ESS

5.0
May 22, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Pick your own schedule and flexible

Cons

Work less need more time making money

4.0
Jun 17, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The corporate support and recruitment team are excellent; they are professional and highly responsive. The onboarding and training process was comprehensive and genuinely prepared me for the realities of substitute teaching. The role offers a great deal of flexibility, opportunities to engage with the local population, and a clear pipeline for those seeking long-term subbing positions or a path toward a full-time teaching career. It is an excellent environment for networking within the education sector.

Cons

The day-to-day experience is heavily dependent on the specific district and school culture, which can vary significantly. Some districts provide free lunch, others don’t. Unfortunately, there is often a lack of respect at the school level; substitute staff are sometimes treated as expendable rather than as valued members of the team. There is a lack of job security, as pre-booked assignments are frequently canceled on short notice to accommodate other preferred substitutes. Subs have to work 4 days a month and it’s hard to meet when people are constantly being dropped from jobs. Additionally, the compensation is extremely low, and the benefits package is insufficient, making it difficult to rely on this position as a primary source of income.

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