Only good if you're a full time student - Lead Tutor Kumon Employee Review

2.0
May 6, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

++I'm prefacing this by saying that each location is going to be extremely different because they are owned and run separately from each other. Some locations run a tight ship and some are very lenient. Look up reviews for your specific location++ The work is easy and most of the kids are fun to teach and get to know. If you're there for an extended amount of time, the families get to know and trust you. Its a fun, easy work environment and (depending on your location) it is very easy to take days off. My boss and manager were very understanding when things came up and were very nice people to work for. The Aptos location is very laid back and a good place to work if 1) you have extremely limited availability due to full time schooling or something similar, 2) you have little to no work experience, and/or 3) you aren't self driven or find it really hard to stay motivated at work. If you stay there for long enough and positions open up (they're bound to because turnover is extremely high here), it is very easy to get up that ladder and learn everything there is to know about Kumon. The workload is light and you aren't expected to put this job first in your life. Most of the reason I liked this job was because I had a really nice boss and made a couple close friends with some coworkers.

Cons

Specific children can be straight up nightmarish- screaming and crying when they come in because they don't want to do the work, throwing tantrums, etc. I think that's to be expected in any job where you're working with little ones though. The only issue is nobody trains you on how to deal with this and the only way to learn is through experience. Some parents seem to send their kids to kumon just to get rid of them for an hour or two, and some parents can act really entitled and yell at tutors. Overall that aspect of the job isn't too terrible. My location only ever hired employees by telling current employees to "ask their friends." Being that most of the employees are high schoolers with no work ethic, this means that any new hires are just their close friends (who they tell to apply because it's a "super easy job and you get paid to do nothing") which leads to them working /less/ because they're busy giggling and gossiping in cliques and going crazy every time the manager doesn't have a sharp eye on them. It really reflects badly on the business and causes the good employees to leave because they feel less valued than the kids that do nothing but sit on their phones and chat for their entire shift. This means that nothing gets done and it's all left for the few dependable employees to come in and get done on their days off. Management will listen to your complaints and act supportive but not do anything about it in the long run. I had never heard of anyone being fired at my location except for those who had done blatantly terrible things, so there isn't any incentive for employees to do good work. Some locations give raises based on employees completing worksheet packets and tests that are designed for students. This is a good idea in theory because it ensures that employees know the material that they are teaching students, but you are only given a 50 cent raise for every level completed. Each level has 200 10 page packets, meaning 2000 pages (look up "2000 page book" for a visual on that) that you'd have to complete for a 50 cent (or in some places, 10 cent) raise. It takes some students more than half a year to finish a level, and they're doing work every day. On top of this, you're required to start at high school level packets so its not like you can do all the easy levels quickly and rack up money that way. All this homework on top of working full time? It's not worth it to me. Don't work here unless you're fine with being paid minimum wage and feeling undervalued for your work.

Explore other reviews about Kumon

5.0
Jun 22, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Flexible hours. Super helpful if you're a student

Cons

- None. Everyone I worked with were super nice.

3.0
Jun 29, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good first job, would reccomend

Cons

No major cons that I can think of

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