Does British Council pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, British Council employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.1 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at British Council. This rating has improved by 3% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at British Council?

65% of British Council employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated British Council 3.7 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.8 for culture and values and 3.2 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at British Council?

English Teacher (162) , English Language Assistant (100) , Teacher (100) , Exam Invigilator (93) , Project Manager (67) , Invigilator (64) , Teaching Assistant (55) , Manager (44) , ESL Teacher (38) , Customer Service Representative (30) , Teacher of English (26) , Language Assistant (25) , IELTS Invigilator (24) , Administrative Assistant (23) , Consultant (23)

What are the pros of working at British Council according to real employee reviews?

"Meaningful and some great colleagues" ((in 173 reviews)); "Good work life balance and exposure to the market." ((in 124 reviews)); "Great people to work with and for." ((in 117 reviews)); "Great working environment and friendly" ((in 67 reviews)); "It's just a shame that the good culture was destroyed by bad organisational management." ((in 63 reviews))

What are the cons of working at British Council according to real employee reviews?

"Salaries are low and you have to work from the office most of the time." ((in 207 reviews)); "Low pay and insanely bureaucratic" ((in 120 reviews)); "But yes Management is Poor and Biased !" ((in 101 reviews)); "Those in senior leadership positions tend to serve themselves and their careers ahead of the corporate mission." ((in 33 reviews)); "This permeates across different offices and countries too as the managers have very often mixed a lot in past roles." ((in 29 reviews))

What are employees saying about British Council layoffs in 2026?

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

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British Council

British Council reviews

3.7

65% would recommend to a friend

(2,307 total reviews)

Ciarán Devane

63% approve of CEO

46% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

4.0

Diversity & inclusion

3.8

Culture & values

3.7

Work/Life balance

3.2

Senior management

3.2

Career opportunities

3.1

Compensation and benefits

British Council has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 2,307 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The British Council employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the ONG y Organizaciones sin fines de lucro industry (3.7 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

2K reviews

1.0

Mar 18, 2023

Terrible Senior Management

English teacher

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

- great team of teachers, knowledgeable, friendly, hardworking. - Good holidays - Good opportunities for professional development

Cons

- Senior Management is seriously out of touch with teaching department and has little to no interest in employee well-being. - despite policies to protect diversity and mental health etc, the reality is far from that. - Director is petty and makes decisions based on personal and unprofessional bias. - ever decreasing package of benefits. - People with a non-academic background making academic decisions. - Decisions made solely on money over the academic benefit/ benefit to the student. When those decisions fail the teacher is blamed.

1.0

Mar 12, 2023

British Council, Paris, France

English teacher

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Training is funded and it is mandatory to do 30 hours training a year. They will partially fund training programmes like masters etc.

Cons

Very low salary with little opportunity to increase it. A toxic work environment, because of this, the centre is currently hemorrhaging teaching staff at a rapid rate. Under staffed. Favouritism and privileges given to preferred members of staff.

2.0

Sep 7, 2022

Toxic Working Culture

Exam assistant

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Well paid for simple tasks (Part time staff only)

Cons

Full time workers treat part time workers unprofessionally and emotionally. They train new staff by introducing the work flow and let them handle it solely. The hiring managers within a team publicly discuss the interviewees' performance while other staff members are around (saying something like they don't deserve the wages they asked for) [sounds so rude, doesn't it?] Full time workers might think they act “friendly” enough, but they are so hypercritical and we all knew. You can hear lots of backbiting in the office.

Viewing 52 - 54 of 2,307 Reviews

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