Insurance- The health insurance they offer is horrible so don't even waste your money. I will be looking at the marketplace options before wasting my money with ESS insurance.
Pay- I have a Bachelor's degree and only make $18 an hour which is depressing. The pay is way too low and doesn't come close to being able to support me paying my rent. Needless to say I do have a second job. They wanted me to get the substitute credential which cost extra money which I do not get reimbursed for. So far I have had to spend over $200 just to be able to be certified and cleared for background. You have to pay for your own background checks and fingerprints which again is not reimbursable. Most companies pay for this but ESS does not which they should considering how low they pay employees. A cost breakdown is fingerprints was $69.00, Administrative fee was $11.00, Substitute credential was $125.00. You do not get paid on days the school is closed which was not disclosed to me when I was being recruited. Nor are you able to file for partial unemployment to cover winter breaks or holidays. We do not get holiday pay either. The whole pay and benefits needs to be restructured if you want to retain employees.
