VIPX Reviews

3.5

64% would recommend to a friend

(37 total reviews)

54% positive business outlook

VIPX has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 37 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The VIPX employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Education industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

37 reviews
2.0
24 Mar 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

None spring to mind. -I guess the platform for teaching is nice but it suffers from constant technical problems and they update it about twice a month which is incredibly irritating. -opportunities for promotion- but the team leaders seemed pretty unhappy with their 'promotions'.

Cons

The main problems with this company are that they lied to teachers during the recruitment and on-boarding process. -We were promised the world and given the scraps. We were told that students would study with use every week and we would be paid for every single slot of the semester once a student books us. In reality, the students would often be allowed to cancel even 10 minutes before class- the teacher does not receive compensation except the $5 per hour standby fee which is pitiful once spread out across a 40 minute slot. -We were promised that any slots not filled by regular students would be open for parents to book trial classes. This was a complete lie- repeated and contradicted multiple times by admins and team leaders. In fact, should you lose any students due to scheduling conflict/ student dissatisfaction with the course, you will never have any opportunity to fill that slot. And you can't take your business elsewhere because you have gaps all over your schedule that aren't easy to fill with other companies. - the admins and team leaders will invest a bizarre amount of time searching for reasons to complain about you and make you feel undervalued, the minute you raise any complaint, concerns or simply ask too many difficult questions that expose blatant lies . To the extent of watching months of recorded classes in the hope of finding one slight error in appearance, lighting or not quite peppy enough in class (we all have those days). - minor mistakes in pay are ignored with convoluted excuses that always end with a 'we are right, you are wrong' attitude despite providing evidence. - they find ways to make the semester bonus confusing and contradictory by refusing to provide the names of the students for which the bonus has been paid. So we can't keep track of anything or query any discrepancy. - You are required to sign in 10 minutes before the start of shift but they are too cheap to pay for that time. Pro rata at $5 per hour is hardly a steep expense. And team leaders actually go out of their way to send memos informing us that we can not sign out even 30 seconds early. -compulsory monthly/twice monthly meetings so team leaders and admins who have no professional capacity to advise on teaching practice can instead lecture us about sales and share pointless statistics. -When recruited we were told that we would teach 4 levels of class which would give some variation to our working week. We were instead assigned two levels so you essentially teach the same two classes for a week, in a three week cycle that repeats the same story with different vocabulary/ different comprehension questions. Imagine teaching the same lesson for three weeks, minimum 15 hours a week and ask yourself if you can maintain your sanity and still be excited about the little seed that grows into a flower after your 25th class about it!!! -these are NOT ESL lessons, it is purely reading comprehension and poorly constructed reading comprehension with mistakes in every single class. - They actually go out of their way to make things more difficult for teachers. Instead of simply reading a memo they decided that we should have to log into a separate learning management system to complete a course about that memo. One which included a single inane question that could be answered with common sense. - they sent a memo informing females that they were required to tie their hair up in class because a single female was spotted twirling her hair in class. So the company blankets the entire female community of teachers as being unable to resist twirling their hair (I guess the long haired or bearded men folk don't suffer from this feminine inadequacy!). In fact this is a common theme with the company. A single teacher does something wrong but instead of communicating directly they send a passive aggressive memo that leaves you wondering if you were the offending teacher. Quite childish. - they have been known to fire people when they resign but they expect 30 days notice from you, so if you plan to leave you better line up that new job before telling them because the loyalty that you give them does not extend both ways. hmmm - worst pay in the industry- worse pay than teaching adults

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VIPX Response
7y
We deeply regret that you had such a negative experience with us. To address your concerns in sequence, we firstly apologize that there was a misunderstanding with the registration and pay structure. Students do book with you on a semester-long basis, which allows for a measure of pay guarantee, but if they cancel prior to the class, then that slot will not be paid at a teaching rate. Cancelled or empty slots do, however, have the opportunity to be filled. Experiencing Classes, students booking makeup classes, and volunteering to substitute are all ways to pick up extra hours (though of course they are subject to availability and seasonal demand). It is also unfortunate that you did not feel supported by your team leader and admin. We endeavour to cultivate a positive working environment, so rest assured that appropriate measures are always taken when we receive feedback that any disrespect or injustice towards an individual has taken place. The same applies to discrepancies in pay; your trust is important to us, and we always investigate concerns that are raised to ensure you receive the compensation you are due. We are sorry for any financial errors that were not corrected swiftly and professionally. For student renewal bonuses, it is our intention to offer a congratulatory bonus for your hard work and dedication. We will aim to make this communication clearer in future. As for signing into your team group 10 minutes before shift begins, we use this as an indication of your presence so that admin has as much time as possible to organize a substitute teacher should someone be absent. Although it goes unpaid, you are by no means required to work during this time. Consider it to be the same “buffer” time a worker would need at a company that requires them to walk to the staffroom, hang up their coat, and put their lunch in the fridge before using the punch clock that marks the beginning of their pay period. In terms of the semi-monthly meetings, we work towards these being informative team-building sessions so that you, our valued teachers, feel included and updated about the direction of our company. We will use your feedback to make these meetings more enjoyable and relevant in future. For the levels of your classes, we try to best match you to students whose level is most appropriate to your style, though of course there are fluctuations in demand that may dictate which levels dominate your bookings. We understand that repetition in materials can be frustrating, and as such greatly encourage all our teachers to personalize the lessons to each student’s interest, which should also help reduce monotony. Finally, we understand that our 30-day notice policy can be challenging to respect, but we require that time to redistribute students to other suitable instructors. In the unfortunate circumstance that we must let go one of our teachers, it is because they are deemed unfit for our students and it would be inappropriate for teachers to continue contact with them. We hope you understand that it is not an issue of reciprocal loyalty, but rather of putting our students first. All your concerns have been forwarded to the teaching department, and we strive to use your feedback to ensure no one experiences the same grievances as you in the future. If you have any further concerns, please contact us at support@vipx.com. Thank you for your thorough review, though we regret your experiences weren’t more positive, and we wish you all the best for your future endeavours.
2.0
12 Oct 2018

ESL Teacher

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

+The kids are the only pro, super sweet and smart

Cons

- Everything already mentioned - Punitive company - Interested in profit, not the kids - $5/hr when you don't have studnts - One month's notice before leaving or they'll keep your entire months paycheck

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VIPX Response
7y
We are disappointed to learn that you didn’t enjoy your time with VIPX. It is our intention to welcome teachers into a mutually supportive environment, and are sorry that you felt our company to be incentivized by profit or to appear punitive in any way. To address your concern about the required month’s notice, this system is in place to ensure that students are not left without a teacher. Students specially select their teacher for their needs, and are guaranteed to keep the same one for the entirety of a semester. To change teachers partway through is disruptive to their learning; we hope to minimize this transitional discomfort by allowing them a period wherein they can select another tutor. This window of time must be honored as per the signed agreement upon hiring; if breached, then yes, the unfortunate consequence is a forfeit of the final month of pay. We regret that this is the case, but hope that you understand it is our way of encouraging a respectful conclusion of both our working relationship with a teacher and of said teacher’s relationship with their student. Thank you for your honest review, and we hope that you find success with your future endeavors.
2.0
25 Jul 2018

No Classes

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Organized, paid training, touch-base often, community support, paid for no-show students, accessible chatrooms for questions, comments, and concerns

Cons

rigid rules, 4 weeks where the school is closed with no pay, you get paid teaching hours" not PER hour (very important to distinguish), your non-teaching hourly rate is 5$ per hour which is ridiculous.

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VIPX Response
6y
We’re happy to hear that you were satisfied with the training, support, and chat rooms! At VIPX, we value a sense of community, and always strive to make our teachers feel comfortable. For this reason especially, we are disappointed to learn that you were unhappy with the management and Team Leaders. Though the TL position has since been dissolved, if you have any suggestions about how management could improve their support of our teachers, we welcome you to send us an email at support@vipx.com. It is unfortunate that you experienced few classes at first; unpredictable fluctuations in market demands sometimes create low-enrollment periods. We apologize that you joined us at one such time. Due to similar dissatisfaction about the non-teaching hourly rate, we have elected to follow the industry standard and pay only for teaching hours rather than by total availability. We also acknowledge the confusion that has surrounded what comprises a teaching hour. To clarify: teachers are assigned an hourly rate, and the cumulative booked teaching hours in a month (worked in slots of 50-minutes) calculate the final salary. We are happy to announce that we have also minimized official company holiday weeks to offer more stable income throughout the year. It is our hope that these changes will positively affect all current and future teachers. Thank you very much for your honest review and for your time with us. Best of luck in your future endeavours!
Viewing 1 - 3 of 37 Reviews

Glassdoor has 56 VIPX reviews submitted anonymously by VIPX employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if VIPX is right for you.