UKEC Reviews

The company is Chinese orientated which was determined from the start. However, when they hired me in, the outlook was getting more diverse. But, the management was incapable of overseeing international side of the business because of the lack of experience, communication skills and knowledge. Moreover, they failed to admit it and refused to take on ideas and suggestions from international staff who have had experience in the field. When felt threaten by the staff's opinion about management style, they isolated and treated the staff in an indecent manner. Plus, most managers are incapable of sufficient communication with staff in English. The team structure is not organised. The workload is not organised and most enrolling cycles staff are expected to work overtime up until 8-9 pm at night with a ridiculous overtime policy stating they can only claim it within a month while cycles like these can last for 3 months and they have to work overtime not paid. The management is not representative of the international side of the business so it was neglected and left with incapable, inexperienced team leaders. Most international staff were hired mostly because of the language they speak or their nationality, not because they were suitable for the roles. However, they were expected to just bring students in without any actual training or support. There's no team work.

I would strongly advise anyone who would be considering this company, DON’T JOIN! Toxic Management The managers are manipulative, dishonest, and will lie straight to your face. They tell so many lies they forget what's been said. Most of the time you find what’s been said contradicts itself. The managers will name and shame you at public meetings, they will call you stupid, useless and say you will not find a job anywhere else. They said ‘you should feel lucky to even have a job in this company’, ‘you need to be grateful to this benevolent company UKEC’. In some offices, they only have 1-2 staff but they will still have a dedicated manager who does nothing but forcing works onto the other staff and humiliate them. Dishonest company practice During the covid 19 pandemic, This company has put people on full-time furlough to receive the government grant of 80% of the employee’s salary in early 2020. Yet they kept the same sales target and asked the staff to work during these claimed furlough hours. Again after November 2020, they put staff on flexible furlough yet kept the same sales target and encouraged staff to work during those hours which they reported to the government as furloughed hours. Forced overtime You will have to do lots and lots of overtime because they simply put too much work and unrealistic target on you. You will personally be threatened with dismissal if you do not do work at night or during weekends. No recognitions If you exceeded your target and work, they will say you are just doing what is in your job description. If you have difficulty such as mental stress, workload problem, not knowing the best practice for the work. There will be no training, no discussions, and only threats of future dismissal on the table. No annual pay rise. Your annual appraisal will mean nothing. Your base salary does not rise with inflation, only your commission will rise a tiny bit if you over achieve the previous year's target (they have this overcomplicated chart to calculate your new bonus, for the little it increases, this bonus policy looks pathetic). Working visa = constant threats This company will give international recent graduated students working visa sponsorship. Yet you will have to pay for the visa fee yourself. People who are sponsored by this company will get so much more threats of dismissal just because they know you do not want to lose your visa. People who are considering this company just for the visa, I would ask, do you really want to have no personal life and no dignity for 5 years? High turnaround rate There is a rumour going around the company at the moment, that this company is strategically putting huge pressure on individual staff, so they would quit avoiding the stress. So many people quit in the last few months I will say it might be 1/3 of the total employee headcount. To be fair, I am not surprised by the toxic management style done by this company. Even people who are still with the company are only looking for their next job so they could leave too. Negative business outlook With covid 19, there is a good chance that international students will decide not to come to UK to study and delay their education entry for another year. This will cause big cashflow problem for UKEC as they work on the annual commission paid by the universities. It is possible that this company will not survive through the pandemic. Thus low job security.