VIPKid Employee Reviews

Overall a good place to work remotely and living in an area that has a lower cost of living and is closer to China's time zone. Can be difficult in North America unless you're willing to be up in the middle of the night. Much more reasonable in Europe.

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Nice way to make cash on the side

Freelance English teacher (Former Employee) - St. John's, NL - 16 November 2023

Very early hours, trial classes often have no shows where you still get paid. Overall good part time job and lots of work available if you have a good profile and parents choose to book with you.

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Insights into VIPKid

Based on 23 survey responses

What people like

Ability to learn new things
Time and location flexibility
Clear sense of purpose

Exploitative

English Teacher (Former Employee) - Toronto, ON - 28 September 2023

Work requires many more hours than you are actually paid for. I would not recommend taking a teaching job here. You are treated as a number and the pressure is high.

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Fun, flexible and productive financially

Teacher (Former Employee) - Remote - 4 September 2023

What is the best part of working at the company?Best job ever! It's convenient and flexible.What is the most stressful part about working at the company?You have to manage your sleeping pattern as work hours are early mornings What is the work environment and culture like at the company?It's whatever you make of it because it's from the comfort of your own house.What is a typical day like for you at the company?It's fun as you interact and teach children English in an interactive manner.

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It was great while it lasted

It was great while it lasted (Former Employee) - Remote - 19 March 2023

Fantastic job to have during the pandemic and teaching kids from all around the world. Unfortunately the government on the mainland banned foreign online teachers so the industry is bust.

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Hard hours, a good way to make some extra cash.

Online ESL Teacher (Former Employee) - Remote - 17 November 2022

Early mornings. Decent side gig. You can work from anywhere with a decent internet connection. Unable to make last minute cancellations without being heavily penalized. This is very challenging in the time of Covid. Used to have decent bonus incentives, but they keep changing them and are not what they once were.

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Set your own hours, over all culture is ok

ESL Teacher (Online) (Current Employee) - Remote - 3 October 2022

Management doesn’t really care about the individual teacher you’re replaceable. You’re not always as booked at you would like and the company has been watered down in recent years.

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tutor

Online English Teacher (Former Employee) - Toronto, ON - 28 September 2022

tutoring is fun and there is a strong sense of purpose teaching english to those who are eager to learn the language. It does get repetitive and there are times where there are learning barriers faced by some students.

Pros

work when you want

Cons

repetitive work

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No what it used to be

EFL Teacher VIPKid (Former Employee) - Canada - 19 August 2022

It was fine for the first year or so, but you're obviously a number and not a person to this company. Very shady company that will look for excuses not to pay you.

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flexible And relaxed once you get students

ESL Teacher (Former Employee) - Remote - 7 August 2022

This was the exact type of job I was looking for when I started here. Decent pay for minimal prep time. Students were great. Quite a bit of autonomy in a structured environment. Overall great.

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Almost entirely gone now

ESL Teacher (Current Employee) - Remote - 18 July 2022

When I started with VIPkid in 2019 there was always enough work to satisfy me. I was never able to completely work fulltime but I was happy with part time hours and the students were great. Unfortunately, the company started cutting corners with costs and cutting hours. There was no transparency about the decisions that were being made and how they'd affect teachers. Today it is difficult to find enough hours to get throuh the week.

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It's good when you need it.

English Second Language Teacher (Current Employee) - Remote - 5 May 2022

When there is nothing else and you want to work from home, this is an amazing opportunity to have. I keep renewing my contract even though I haven't taught for over a year just to have the option.

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It was good

English Teacher (Former Employee) - Remote - 23 March 2022

Not a terrible company to work for but the pay is very low. You get to make your own schedule and essentially be your own manager whoch is great! Only thing I didn't like was their punitive absence policy. If you need to cancel a class with short notice you have to pay $10 when you are only making $7 per class. Also once the new.regulations with China came about and the Global platform was set up there were no students to teach anymore.

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fun workshops for CEGreat StudentsWierd hours

ESL Teacher (Former Employee) - Work from Home - 26 January 2022

I loved teaching the students I had, but hours were from 3 am to 6 am and it was very difficult to achieve a work-life balance. I loved the curriculum and the teaching of it was fun- plenty of tips from experienced teachers.

Pros

flexible hours

Cons

Too tired to work well elsewhere

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VIPKid offers an easy way to make some extra money. You are your own boss, both good and bad. Must be in China to teach.

Online ESL Teacher (Current Employee) - Remote - 31 December 2021

Foreign teachers no longer allowed to teach English online. This job is basically non-existent now.Most of the students were amazing (not all. Had some instances of inappropriate behaviour/nudity). You are on your own, both good and bad. HR not beneficial. Learn to pseudo-lawyer (e.g., record your presence at the start - and finish - of every lesson to prove you were truly there for the scheduled time, so you will be paid). Strengthen your skills in various functions while working online.

Pros

Pick your own times (may not get booked), Paid comparatively well (still poor), Casual dress, Wfh, Minimal preparation before work

Cons

Pick your own times... 11/12 hours ahead of your time zone (i.e., zombie hours), May not get booked despite following all advice, HR non-existent. Gaslights if report illegal acts in class (recordings NOT legal, vs. China laws), Must have physical proof of presence if challenged or no pay/score docked

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Restricted by CCP

ESL Teacher (Former Employee) - Remote - 3 December 2021

Currently restricted by CCP. Trying to launch global platform. New platform may not have staying power. Old compensation reasonable. New compensation just okay. Okay side hustle. Wonderful kids and decent materials.

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Good and flexible hours but class slides a bit...different

ESL Teacher (Current Employee) - Toronto, ON - 21 November 2021

Management at VIPKid is on point. There's always updates about every little thing and ways for teachers to earn more money like 'perfect streak' contests, opening PPTs (peak peak timeslots). I just had a problem with some of the teaching material which was to a North American, a bit weird. Just so different from what we're used to growing up in NA but you do get used to it. They do get back right away (within a day) with any issues brought up to support center. Overall, very good experience.

Pros

Fair and caring staff

Cons

Some teaching material didn't make sense

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Great company

Online ESL Teacher (Current Employee) - Toronto, ON - 21 November 2021

I loved working for VIPKid. Unfortunately the Chinese government has made huge changes to students access to foreign teachers, so the well is dry right now. They are trying to transition to students globally.

Pros

Great students

Cons

No advancement right now

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I cannot recommend

ESL Teacher (Current Employee) - Work from Home - 25 September 2021

There have been many changes to compensation, reviews of job performance, and work responsibilities over the last year. The company has been affected by recent changes to Chinese law that are expected to eventually make it impossible for non-Chinese teachers to do this type of work. Communication has been very poor.

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Not worth the hassle

Teacher (Former Employee) - Remote - 3 July 2021

While their pay and platform are one of the best in the industry, the culture of competition and always having to check your pay and screenshot to prove start and end time for classes was just insane. After three years and over 5,000 classes my work/life balance made it not worth it.

Cons

Time change, cancellation policy

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This is a fun, flexible job.

Teacher (Former Employee) - On-line - 3 June 2021

The job is a lot of fun. The children are very respectful and work hard. Due to the time difference it is hard to get a lot of hours. I typically work every day for a short time. Parents will book your class for 25 minutes and you go through the premade lesson with the child. The lessons are taught one-on-one. If you need to cancel a class with a child due to sickness or death in the family they will fine you $10 per class.