Does First Student pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, First Student employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.5 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at First Student. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at First Student?

70% of First Student employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated First Student 3.8 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.5 for culture and values and 3.6 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at First Student?

School Bus Driver (493) , Graduate Student (365) , Software Engineer (195) , Bus Driver (164) , Driver (124) , Student Worker (67) , Data Entry (63) , Software Developer (59) , Internship (51) , Working Student (45) , Intern (43) , PhD Student (33) , Web Developer (30) , Bus Monitor (25) , Mechanical Engineer (25)

What are the pros of working at First Student according to real employee reviews?

"Pay was good and it was consistent" ((in 165 reviews)); "Not a bad place to work the people are great and hours are good for moms." ((in 114 reviews)); "Good Workplace and good environment" ((in 63 reviews)); "CDL Training for later use in life" ((in 43 reviews)); "Good Work life balance all time" ((in 36 reviews))

What are the cons of working at First Student according to real employee reviews?

"Bad management but now its good" ((in 106 reviews)); "low salary then other places" ((in 82 reviews)); "Not enough hour No benefit Not enough hour No benefit Not enough hour No benefitNot enough hour No benefit" ((in 78 reviews)); "Long hours and boring work" ((in 56 reviews)); "Very difficult company to work for umess you have a good manager." ((in 25 reviews))

What are employees saying about First Student layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about First Student layoffs and their outlook for job security at First Student in 2026.

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First Student

First Student reviews

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3.7

70% would recommend to a friend

(3,728 total reviews)

John Kenning

70% approve of CEO

65% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

3.9

Diversity & inclusion

3.8

Work/Life balance

3.6

Career opportunities

3.5

Culture & values

3.5

Compensation and benefits

3.4

Senior management

First Student has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 3,728 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The First Student employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Transporte y logística industry (3.5 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

4K reviews

1.0

Apr 8, 2016

Not going anywhere,not doing anything!

School bus driver

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Steady part time work, note to Glassdoor, Linda Burtwhistle is no longer CEO Dennis Maple took over a little over a yr ago.

Cons

Not enough employees to handle tasks so quite a bit of double running going on. Repairs not getting done some buses sit out back for months, as there is very low overhead in terms of parts. Some buses being run with known defects, such as thick smoke fumes from injector issues, burned out overheads no buzzers,doors. Wed we had huge snowstorm, driver radioed wipers were not working, they were told to drive to town to have it fixed and company couldn't afford to send overworked mechanics to their house, this wasn't a very safe thing to allow as this driver was from country and had highway travel.

1.0

Sep 13, 2015

Just Don't.

School bus driver

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

None that are worth it.

Cons

The CDL training cost if you choose to leave before 12 months is 2,750.56. The CDL that you will receive is garbage. The training is garbage. The hours are garbage. The pay is again garbage.

2.0

Aug 16, 2015

School Bus Driver

School bus driver

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

The best part about working for First Student was my fellow employees. I have worked in an environment where everyone was as supportive and caring.

Cons

The worst part about working for First Student was the lack of hours. When I hired I was told I would work a certain amount of hours a week and I actually worked about 10 hours less. The pay compaired to the other bus company here was about $3-$5 less per hour. The biggest issue I had was with my route. I drove had some students that I constantly had behavior issues. I received very little help from management for resolving the issue with these students. I was constantly being told to write them up, nothing ever really came about those write ups. So after awhile I stopped writing the students up.

Viewing 52 - 54 of 3,728 Reviews

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