Here is the real deal- unfiltered - Online Teacher Liulishuo Employee Review

1.0
14 Dec 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I like the actual lessons ppt

Cons

THEY HAVE A HIDDEN FEE OF $150 that they take out of the teacher's paycheck per cancellation or absence or teacher no show. THEY DO NOT tell you about this until after you are hired and they review your contract with you. This is unheard of in online teaching and clearly it is unreasonable. Also when they ask for your banking information they do NOT have a secure way to add it to their system. You actually just email it to the staff. What ??? The teaching platform is fraught with IT issues. They are constantly having IT problems where either you can't get into the classroom or the student can't hear you . Also the whole thing has crashed a few times since I have been there. It's havoc. Then they really treat teachers as children. They will ask you to download team viewer so they can check on your internet connection, they also have you check in online and they basically try to control teachers. They babysit you as a teacher making sure you are online in time for classes by having you sign into Skype everyday. I have never been treated more as a child by a company as much as this. They want to be in your computer and they want to know more about where you are teaching from. The biggest reason I found this company to be ridiculous is the scheduling system. So you email your schedule to someone 2 weeks ahead. This is tedious. You have to email and write out every slot that you have available. So you have to manually write it out. They do not have any type of teacher schedule that you can click on or open slots on to easily create your schedule or to edit it. NO edits allowed once your send it in . Then your email with classes gets transposed onto the teaching platform by someone leaving lot of room for error. During my interview and training their room was so loud that I could barely hear the trainer or interviewer. Super unprofessional. Both on separate occasions with different people. AND both times it was ridiculous I could not hear really important instructions. They told me they have a small office. So whoever else was talking in that room in coming through your speakers so loudly that you could hear the person you were talking to. Any week days that you post will not fill. There must not be enough students ?? Forget referrals their rules state that the person has to teach more than 300 classes in 3 months for you to get a referral fee. Possibly one of the worst run companies I have come across in my years of teaching online. They are just super unprofessional. And have ridiculous fees against teachers. It's like they have no idea how to treat teachers as adults. And build loyalty. So needless to say I did not stay on. Who wants to be treated as a child and charged huge astronomical fees.

avatar
Liulishuo Response
8y
Thank you for your feedback, and glad to know that you liked the PowerPoint presentations of our lessons. I am sorry to hear that you were unhappy with your experience working here. As a fast-growing startup with relatively limited bandwidth and resources, we inevitably face the challenge of balancing our internal needs with the needs of students and products. Therefore, I apologize for the issues you had with our teaching platform, scheduling system, and the noise you heard during interview and training. And on that note, I have some good news to share: we are actively working on a new feature named “Time Slot”, which allows instructors to set their own schedule conveniently and directly in the system. Our team has also moved into a new office starting from January 2018, equipped with separate meetings rooms and good soundproofing materials, which we believe will contribute to a better interview and training experience. With regards to your concerns around the security of banking information, we are currently taking information via email, however, we have a designated HR person who handles all the banking/payment related information for instructors, and I can assure you that the information is safe with us. We are also working on a secure integration to handle banking information. The $150 penalty is only applied in the case of instructor no-show without prior communication, not to canceled classes communicated in advance. This policy ensures the fair treatment of students and that they are respected for the time they devote to taking classes. This is not a hidden fee, as a hidden fee wouldn’t serve the purpose of deterring no-shows, and I am sorry that you felt this wasn’t made clear to you – we communicate this policy to all instructors during the training phase, and you were possibly confused because of the noisy background during training. As for referrals, our policy has always stated that referral bonuses are rewarded when the talent referred has continued working for 3 months and taught 100 classes. Thanks again for your feedback. I hope that the progress we are making with the internal system, as well as our continued efforts in communicating more clearly with our instructors, would contribute to a better overall experience going forward.

Explore other reviews about Liulishuo

5.0
13 May 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

1. Goal oriented visionary AI tech company I think when I first started with this company, I was a little scared because I didn’t know what to expect given the fact their company used AI tech with their app. But after completing my first contract with them, I can honestly say it’s been such a wonderful experience. I’m truly thankful for the opportunity to work from home especially experience some difficult hardships in my life this year. They are also one of the few companies that do not discriminate against teachers who are of color. 2. Wonderful Students (I teach adults) I have had the opportunity to share my passion of teaching English to many students in China. (ie healthcare professionals, business executives, IT professionals, stay at home moms, a few young learners). I never imagined that I would enjoy teaching and getting to know many of my students by forming bonds with some of them half way around the world. 3. Online Support and Teaching Material Technical and support personnel are excellent at helping when there are any tech problems or any questions. Teachers are assigned to different groups and if we run into any problems we message our teaching supervisor or IT Support. Whenever I’ve had problems IT would enter my classroom to assess and resolve the issue. If the problem can’t be resolved, they’ll re-schedule the class for the student. I’ve had my fair share of tech problems but I think that comes with any company that offers a platform to teach online. (I’ve taught at other companies before that require video) I currently teach adults at Liulishuo and all my classes are AUDIO. Lessons are prepared already so teachers just have to be sure to review the lessons so they know how to teach it according to the company’s standards. The only lessons that may require some preparing are higher levels one (which are few) and this entails viewing a short video (or reading the transcript) to help familiarize yourself with the lesson. Lessons are 25 minutes and are based more on conversation. A reviewer made a comment about the company “babying teachers”. I’ve never felt “they were babying me or insulting me” in any manner. They no longer require you to check in with them when signing in for the day to teach lessons, but even so I’ve never had a problem with that request. 4. Flexibility and Bonus Incentive The company allows you to open your own slots to set your schedule 2 weeks in advance. If emergencies arise and you need to cancel slots that have been scheduled you have to show documentation to them. Teaching times are from 10am – 11pm BJT. No minimum hours each week. Initially, I started teaching a few hours with them but as I grew more accustomed to their platform, I decided to increase my hours with them because I really liked teaching with Liulishuo. My first contract with them didn’t include any bonus for attendance, however they’ve just recently decided to add a monthly attendance bonus if teachers comply with their requirements. Requesting off with the company is a breeze as they’ve never given me any problems with taking time off (I don’t generally take long chunks of times off frequently or request off a lot). One reviewer made a comment about the referral bonus being impossible because new referrals have to teach 300 class in 3 months, that has been updated and they now require new referrals to teach 100 sessions in 3 months (each session is composed of 2x 25mins classes). 5. Pay Pay has always been on time and as expected. No surprises. The manager checks in with you each month to verify your teaching hours and monthly salary pay. I’ve never had issues with my pay with them. One reviewer wrote that teachers get paid even if we’re not scheduled a class, that information is correct BUT ONLY if you’re SELECTED to participated in their buyout program. Regular teachers like myself who teach adults are paid IF THE STUDENT DOESN’T SHOW UP FOR CLASS. If your slot isn’t booked than you don’t get paid for that. Another reviewer also stated the $150 fee deduction  that is no longer apart of their contract (clarified by my Teaching Supervisor 5/2018) and honestly, they’ve never deducted anything from my monthly salary before. Your monthly pay is based on student feedback as well but the company carefully reviews any low rating from students. I’ve never had any deductions from my salary and have maintained excellent feedback score each month.

Cons

Cons 1. No show policy/absences – I think the no show policy could be adjusted a bit to help teachers out because sometimes we have family or personal issues. But other than that, the company has been really understanding and helpful. 2. Possibly consideration for other ways to earn incentives as there are many other companies that offer class incentives Overall, they are an amazing company to work for, I would highly encourage any interested applicants who might be interested in picking up a part time job for extra supplementary income to definitely apply to this company.

4
2.0
19 Mar 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Buyout schedule. You still get paid even if bookings are low. Flexible schedule. You can choose when you work. Completely remote and audio only. IT and teacher assistants are responsive and helpful... usually.

Cons

Where do I begin? Extremely low pay, lack of professional development or upward mobility, technology that constantly fails and constant last minute changes. Students can book classes up to 6 hours before it begins, so if you work a shift longer than 6 hours you have no idea what your schedule will look like when you start. After 2+ years working for them, they decided to cut teacher pay in half DURING A WORLDWIDE PANDEMIC claiming they "lost money". Meanwhile teacher schedules are booked full every single day and they're making more money than ever. You're telling me a multi million dollar company can't afford to pay teachers more than $8 an hour? Please. Plus they expect the world of you for practically nothing. Their year old end bonus was a joke, they gave us a whopping $50 after busting our butts trying to give high quality classes. On top of that they schedule very low level students in extremely difficult business English courses just so they can make a quick buck. And when the student can't succeed they blame teachers and punish us with low ratings. We are set up for failure. They don't care about their long term teachers or student achievement at all, just profit.

2
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All