I want to preface this by saying that I'm sure that they will respond to this review saying that they're sorry EF didn't live up to my expectations or that I wasn't a good fit. In reality, I was a great fit which is why I was at the organization for 5+ years in a variety of roles and responsibilities, constantly achieving and exceeding my sales goals, a leader and mentor to my teammates and peers, and moved between offices. In reality, by putting it back on employees for "having different expectations" or "not being a good fit" the leadership at EF is choosing to ignore the trends in these reviews and the very large and real problems their organization faces. Instead they are choosing to continue to do business as they always have and will continue to do so in the future.
Compensation:
• It's not competitive, plain and simple. Making $40-50k as a successful sales rep at a reputable organization is appalling. I knew so many people (myself included) that had a side hustle to pay bills. Bonuses are paid out all or nothing, so great if you can hit your goals but not great if you sell 99% of your goal. You will hear often that reps "have the potential" to make 6 figures, but I would really dig deep and ask for percentages that are actually making that much. Bonus potential is also the same across the board no matter your territory size, so you actually get paid less per traveler the larger the territory you have, even though you have to put in more time and effort to achieve goals. Additionally, the benefits used to be great, but EF has not really kept up with the pace of other companies. Good/inexpensive health insurance and 3-4 weeks vacation is pretty standard these days.
Goals:
• Goals are completely arbitrary and based on minimum 10% growth as a company. Unfortunately, the bigger you grow and the more travelers you add, you are expected to continue to grow on top of that for coming years. I was told time and time again that my goals were high because they "thought I could do it" rather than backed by any real data, even when I asked for it. The only data they were able to provide was "past performance" and "where we want it to be." Directors are essentially given a goal for the team to then spread out among their team based on who they think will perform and frankly who they like.
Management:
• I honestly feel bad for most directors/managers because their hands are tied by upper management who generally has no clue what they are doing. I think it's a huge red flag when most of your VPs & Executives have only worked at one company in their decades long careers. Often you would ask why things were done the way they were done and the response is "that's how it's always been" which is not a valid business reason. Additionally, management is taught that loyalty and positivity (often toxic) is valued more than transparency and performance, which is then expected of their reps at all costs. When I would express interest in another role or leaving the company, I was met with guilt tripping and trash talking of other organizations which ultimately placed doubt in the decision to pursue other options. Even when applying for internal roles, I was told “you know you’re going to take a huge pay cut” or “you aren’t going to be very challenged in that role.” Very manipulative considering that the majority of the workforce at EF is straight out of college and doesn't have the experience to know that they don't deserve to be treated this way in a professional environment. During my time at EF, I witnessed over half of my fellow employees be driven to tears by management. There is no real time or place for employees to give feedback about management, and even if there was, nothing ever gets done with it.
Product:
• There is no doubt that there is value in travel, and everyone that works at EF will agree with that. However, the poor quality of the tour experience gets very hard to justify when your customers are having bad experiences over and over again. There's nothing worse than pulling up to a hotel on your staff tour to see an advertised price of 25 euro per room outside when you're charging kids on average $3500 for a trip. Oh and mind you, there's 4 kids in that 25 euro room. Same with meals, when the menu lists the same meal for $8 and they paid significantly more than that. Not everything is bad, but it gets exhausting to have to tell customers that "their expectations were too high" when you can hardly stomach the dirty hotels and mediocre food yourself.
My advice for anyone looking at working at EF is to stay realistic and don't get pulled into the expectations of something greater. Go into it with the mentality that you'll have fun, get bomb sales training, and see the world but that is it. Get out within 2 years and get yourself a sales job with earning and growth potential. If you heed this advice and don't fall into the trap of thinking opportunity is just on the horizon, you'll save yourself a lot of unnecessarily expended energy and time.
