Kaplan Employee Reviews

Worked as casual exam invigilator. Either offered work three months in advance or receive an email askig if you can work the following day. Half days are not worth it. 4 hours pay at £10.90. Take train fare off that then earning just £36 for trailing into Leeds for half a day. Reception staff always looked bored. Never received a login for computer in the 10 months I worked there. When you work so little you can’t keep up with any changes. Had no work from them for two months. Quite disappointed.

Pros

Nothing

Cons

Half days are not worth it

Was this review helpful?

HR needs to be looked at

Accommodation and Welfare Assistant (Former Employee) - Manchester - 9 September 2023

High stressed and lots of work given to you for little reward. HR was the mean reason for the poor mark as I had to chase of final payslips and still waiting for reference after leaving. Very slow on that level. I had a great time working there and grow but it depends on the manager I was lucky and had a great team to work with. Support was great too.

Pros

Team work

Cons

Pay could be better and job role reworked and looked at to reflect pay.

Was this review helpful?

Insights into Kaplan

Based on 39 survey responses

What people like

Clear sense of purpose
Ability to meet personal goals

Areas for improvement

Energising work tasks
Trust in colleagues
Sense of belonging

Zero contract lecturers / tutors not valued

Associate Tutor (Current Employee) - Leeds - 1 June 2023

Kaplan have an poor attitude to invoicing and payments for contract lecturers (‘associate tutors’) - payments come only after submitting invoices completion of the 9-12 week term (with an extra marking week between terms). And don’t expect any regularity. Payments can come anywhere from the 20th to the 31st and twice payments were seriously late. The accounts department is very rude - never an apology or explanation.

Pros

Department managers

Cons

Business model, accounts department

Was this review helpful?

Don't touch it with a barge pole

Talent Coach (Former Employee) - WFH - 7 May 2023

Horrendous hours worked in order to get the job done - way over what was contracted to do. Culture is toxic and stems from senior management. Managers often bully staff. Worst company I have ever worked for.

Pros

None

Cons

Working from home

Was this review helpful?

I will miss working here very much!

College Services Advisor (Former Employee) - Bristol - 4 May 2023

I worked as a College Services Adviser with a focus in attendance and debt-collection. Naturally, as students face challenges with attendance/finances, this may be due to welfare issues, so I was involved with student support & welfare, also.My academic background and previous experience focussed on student welfare and I wanted a step in the door into student welfare in higher education, which is exactly what this job provided to me. My manager offered me the liberty and freedom to do what I loved the most and contribute to a welfare procedure/system that was already in place to improve the experience and support of students. It was not a perfect job by any means (re: cons), but it will be impossible to find one that is. Though I enjoyed supporting our students, I will miss the team the most. It is a very healthy office culture and everyone in the team is incredibly supportive. The work environment is very special and will be difficult to match. The workload is high, but you learn a lot. If you are looking to get your foot in the door in student support and being a student advisor, this is the perfect role. I would especially advise this role for those that want to get into student welfare. I would not consider this a permanent opportunity unless you manage to join at the right time and given opportunities to progress to more senior levels as people leave and opportunities open.

Pros

No two days are the same particularly when working with international students, My managers were very understanding and want to see you progress, Realistic goals are set by managers.

Cons

Pay is the same across all Colleges, which means my salary is same to those living in cities where rent is cheaper.

Was this review helpful?

Rate your recent company

Share your experience to help others

Avoid at all costs!

Talent Coach (Current Employee) - London, Greater London - 22 April 2023

Caseloads too high, not being able to give quality to the learners.This affects work life balance as you can't keep up with the workload and you find yourself logging on early morning or working late just to keep up.Having to mark learners portfolios when you haven't got the qualifications yourself or have received no training!

Was this review helpful?

They mean well

Senior Manager (Former Employee) - UK - 11 April 2023

A good company with a good ethos but limited options to grow in certain areas of the company. Can be very clicky and those that work in head office seem to be promoted and developed more than those that work in other areas of the country.

Pros

Autonomy to do your job.

Cons

Too many chiefs making for drawn out decision making

Was this review helpful?

Good place to start

Advisor (Former Employee) - United Kingdom - 21 March 2023

Fun place to work in but has some stressful moments. You need to be prepared for getting calls from students doing nothing for 5 years and then demanding getting the access to their course in a very rude manner. Overall, good point to start a career but not so good in terms of progression.

Was this review helpful?

busy but supportive team

Client Services Administrator (Current Employee) - Manchester - 28 February 2023

The team is really supportive and management are very encouraging. However its always busy and can be very stressful during start of academic years. The benefits are really good too, but the pay is below average

Was this review helpful?

Lovely working environment, great students.

English Teacher (Former Employee) - Liverpool - 28 February 2023

My time at Kaplan International, Liverpool was wonderful! My colleagues were a pleasure to work with - there was a real team spirit. The students were hard working and a joy to teach.

Was this review helpful?

Jobs at Kaplan

See more jobs

International Market Manager

London Bridge Station

10 days ago

Student Support Adviser

London Bridge Station

30+ days ago

Accommodation and Welfare Assistant

Liverpool

14 days ago

Poor and rude Management, Low Pay, Expected to do overtime not paid for

Accounts Assistant (Former Employee) - Hammersmith, Greater London - 22 February 2023

Terrible management who are rude, low pay with expectations of working overtime, stressful work environment, Blame culture, don't care about staff turnover or staff wellbeing.

Pros

None

Cons

Terrible management, no support, low pay, no job security

Was this review helpful?

Flexible side job

EFL Teacher (Current Employee) - Liverpool - 11 February 2023

Kaplan is a nice place to work at - students and teachers are usually friendly and it's quite an easy going day to day job. Unfortunately, pay is rather low so it makes it difficult to live on it just working at Kaplan (many people who teach there have other jobs alongside their teaching hours, which is also my case). It can get quite hectic and disorganised at times, too.

Was this review helpful?

Good team

Tutor (Current Employee) - London, Greater London - 25 January 2023

Cooperation and support at its best but Commute is big issue. Overall its a good place to work and I'm impressed by the quality of the teaching and technology employed at the workplace

Was this review helpful?

Not bad, not great

Curriculum Manager (Former Employee) - Home Based - 21 January 2023

Some brilliant people work here, but they generally move on pretty quickly due to poor pay. Staff retention is terrible. Few progression opportunities unless you are management.

Pros

Work from home, no micromanagement, lovely people

Cons

Poor pay, staff retention, difficult to progress

Was this review helpful?

Low pay, no progression, unprofessional management team

Design Manager (Former Employee) - Leeds, West Yorkshire - 20 January 2023

Kaplan Open Learning seems great in the hiring process but fails to provide a clear path of progression for hired employees, as well as proper pay reviews. The salary for a Design Manager is the same as the low end of the average Mid-weight designer salary. Management changes its approach on a weekly basis, so projects are rushed or cancelled without any notice.Management are reticent of hiring more people to make workload easier, or paying fairly to their employees, as well as not being open to feedback or suggestions. I would highly advise any designers to avoid this company and look for a more positive and creative work environment.

Pros

great colleagues

Cons

low pay, no progression, unprofessional management team

Was this review helpful?

Lovely colleagues but disappointing workplace

Manager (Former Employee) - Leeds, West Yorkshire - 7 December 2022

KOL manage to recruit wonderful staff but sadly there is little attempt to develop and retain them. Management are self-preserving and other staff are treated as replaceable. There is so much promise to the company but fast turnover as staff do not feel appreciated and staff aren’t fairly rewarded for their hard work.

Pros

Nice colleagues

Cons

Low pay, no progression

Was this review helpful?

Senior Management can be incompetent and self serving

Senior Lecturer (Former Employee) - London, Greater London - 27 October 2022

Many of the employees are hard working professionals who take pride in what they do.Some of the products and services are first class, but are undermined by senior management decisions.As with a lot of companies there is little meritocracy. Brown nosing and being a 'yes' person is rewarded, not competence. Staff are overworked and not listened to. Insufficient funding and managements failure to listen and attend to urgent problems often made my life a misery.In spite of all this there is room to grow and bond with colleagues and even take pride in ones job .

Pros

Fellow professionals. Buckets of coffee. Students and Teaching. Support for development.

Cons

Presenteeism. Unresponsive senior management. Lack of investment in classrooms.

Was this review helpful?

Not a great place to work.

Facilities Technician (Former Employee) - Bournemouth - 18 August 2022

Staff I worked with were friendly, helpful, nice people, who I enjoyed working with. But senior management based off site were arrogant and vindictive. Changing work contracts without proper negotiation or notice, with no respect for people. Worst company I have ever worked for.

Was this review helpful?

Disappointing workplace

English Teacher (Former Employee) - Liverpool - 18 August 2022

Kaplan used to be a reference for teaching of English, but recently there has been no leadership, no qualified management in the teaching area, no consistent staff, there has been poor engagement with the company, lack of respect and support both to the internal and external client, inefficiency and neglect from headquarters downwards. Teachers have been requested to fulfil extra tasks, like dealing with hardware, software, supporting material, even moving furniture, while support / admin staff is invisible / inexistent / poorly prepared, including senior and mid management positions. All in all, a missed opportunity to shine due to laziness, inoperance, neglect.

Pros

Salary plus contributions

Cons

Support/communication/engagement

Was this review helpful?

Great colleagues, poor support

Funded Apprentice Assessor AAT/ATT/CFAB/CIMA (Former Employee) - London - 1 June 2022

Non stop travelling, lack of guidance, expected to mentor new starters after 3 months on the job.Rewarding to guide students, very good Manager. No progression prospects