Language Stars

1.0

Jun 21, 2015

Recommend

CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

The Regional Director tries to be helpful. From what I've heard, the company used to be better under previous leadership.

Cons

This company has been awful to work for. When I was hired, I was told there was all this potential for growth and advancement and then, when I get put in a center, I find out that the company is laying off employees left and right. Having gone through multiple interviews, no one mentioned this at all and so I was lied to right from the start. The main issue is the higher ups. They have no knowledge whatsoever of what’s happening in the centers or what to do as they are never in them. Even on the extremely rare occasion one of them actually steps foot in a center, they sit on Google Hangout all day in another room, so never actually learn about the business. Google Hangout is probably how they decided to open a new region. That’s right, we don’t have money to pay our people and had to lay a ton of our teachers off, but we apparently have enough money to go into a completely new market. That pretty much sums up where the companies values are. Screw people and make bad business decisions while you’re at it. Directors and teachers are constantly upset and demotivated. Most of us are looking for other jobs. The company does not care about its staff or the families it serves. The company is really struggling, so a focus on money might be understandable, but that is the only focus. Almost every month, directors are given ridiculous, unreachable targets and then looked down upon when they can’t hit them. Absolutely no support is provided to hit these targets. We have no marketing, no sales, no HR, and no training. We’re just supposed to magically hit an enrollment target number that the center has not seen in years. There is no communication from the higher ups, except for last minute changes that just add stress and difficulty to the role. More often than not, changes are implemented so quickly and poorly that they actually make things worse. There is no communication about plans or strategy from the top and it’s pretty clear that the reason is that there simply isn’t a strategy. They’re just flying by the seat of their pants and hoping us directors, who they don’t trust, will save them. Then, of course, if we somehow happen to have a good month, they take all the credit when it was really us coming up with a plan and implementing it. The higher ups actually make it harder to do our jobs. Program quality and family retention is another issue. Imagine if you were asked to teach English to children who didn’t know a word of English and you weren’t allowed to use their native language at all. Now imagine that you have zero background with children or teaching and you are given 3 days or less of training. Not only can most of our hires not teach, they have no clue on how to work with children and classes are often a zoo. Then, of course, it’s your fault as a director when families don’t stay because they see chaos in the classrooms or zero learning result even after a year. We’re told every day that we are “CEOs of our business”, but we literally, and I kid you not, are unable to make a $10 purchase without authorization from the higher ups. We can’t even buy toilet paper for the centers without approval. Everything needs approval, yet no one ever answers emails. You don’t know if they’re simply ignoring you, don’t want to pay the money, or just too incompetent to stay on top of their inbox. Hands down the most frustrating job I’ve ever had in my life. It’s like being in a call center where you are responsible for some huge sales quota, but, on top of sales calls, you have to manage every other aspect of the business from hiring, to marketing, to finance. All this while the higher ups actively work against you by making people angry, not communicating anything, and just being as condescending as possible. My advice would be to avoid working here at all costs.

Language Stars Response

10y

Collectively we are disappointed that this former employee would falsely represent themselves as one of our current employees when they are not. Our team having met this week (our very talented and dedicated Chicago Director team) there is 100% consensus among each of the Chicago Directors regarding this fact. So in addition to misrepresenting themselves as a member of our team (their current employer would likely wonder why they are interested in representing themselves still as part of our team and not theirs) this individual states several untruths throughout their review. To highlight a few of the untruths: We do indeed have marketing, training, sales, and an HR team. To say otherwise is silly. This individual was not “lied to” during their interview process. We have tremendous opportunities (hence the reason we were interviewing this individual for a position at the time and why we are continuing to look for talented and dedicated People to join our team as we continue to expand). We are a growth-focused organization. Our success as an organization and team is due to our unbelievable Teachers and Directors and a dedicated support staff all working together. As a company we are a relatively small team of 38 people (Directors and Center Support) who work together in support of our amazing Teachers and the thousands of programs we deliver to thousands of Students in each of our Centers and in our partner schools. Where there are real issues we expect each other to communicate and work together to resolve those issues. We know we have several areas we are working towards improving in support of improving Language Stars for both our Customers and team members. We are indeed excited about our future expansion into new markets. We regularly receive inquiries from Customers who want Language Stars in their state. Our ability to bring Language Stars to new markets is 100% a reflection of our amazing team as well as our very loyal Language Stars families. The review also references that our “teachers can’t teach” and that “zero learning” occurs. This is another completely false statement. Consistent with the dishonest nature of the entire review, this individual attempts to discredit our highly effective Teachers who lead our classes based on our industry-leading curriculum. At Language Stars we are known for our quality and for delivering such quality consistently and effectively for over 17 years since the company was first created by our passionate Founder. The education space is a small and closely connected network of passionate people working to make a difference. This former employee has certainly greatly disappointed their former direct colleagues and our Teachers. Given that this person is falsely representing themselves as a current employee, if this review and others by this individual continue to stay posted this month, we will be meeting with their actual employer to discuss the numerous false statements and what their intentions are. We take such false representations of our hard working and amazing Teachers very seriously. Our focus and advice: Be accountable, no excuses, and create your own destiny. As to some honest perspectives on our Teachers and our programs overall, here is a sampling of actual feedback we received directly from our Customers this month! “Great teachers, great manager, high quality education, friendly environment” “Great instructors! Great program. Fabulous staff. Easy to reschedule and fun for the kids!” “My daughter likes her classes and has learned a lot. I actually learned a lot from the parent and tot classes as well. I like how the classes move from one activity to another quickly to keep the kids' attention. All the teachers are nice and helpful and my daughter sings songs and uses words at home all the time on her own, it seems like she is getting a lot out of it.” “We recommend language stars all the time! Great way to get your kids started on a language.” “The staff is amazing, and always very flexible with schedule changes. When class is over my girls are always happy to show me their work. Recently my oldest has begun approaching Spanish speaking people and attempting to engage in a pleasant and meaningful exchange. These moments of interaction are building blocks for compassion on the global scale.” “Our Center treats each student (and parent) as part of their family. We have been extremely pleased with the curriculum and teachers. Top-notch service with an excellent education experience.” “I recommend Language Stars because it's great! What a unique opportunity for children who do not have bilingual friends or family. I love all the culture that my daughter is being exposed to at Language Stars as well. Plus the teachers are absolutely excellent!” We look forward to continuing to delight our Customers, working to improve in all areas further, and growing as a Language Stars Team.

Incompetent and uncaring leadership - Center Director Language Stars Employee Review

Explore other reviews about Language Stars

Want the inside scoop on your own company?

Bowls

Followed companies

Job searches