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      Language World Services

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      Language World Services Reviews

      3.9

      73% would recommend to a friend

      (48 total reviews)

      William Glasser

      84% approve of CEO

      66% positive business outlook

      Ratings by category

      4.4

      Diversity and inclusion

      4.0

      Culture and values

      4.0

      Work/Life balance

      3.7

      Senior management

      3.4

      Career opportunities

      2.7

      Compensation and benefits

      Language World Services has an employee rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars, based on 48 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Language World Services employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Human resources and staffing industry (3.8 stars).

      Reviews by job title

      48 reviews
      1.0
      25 Jan 2016

      Revolving Door...

      Spanish interpreter/translator
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      Not much worth mentioning.

      Cons

      I applied to this company, in response to an ad looking for an experienced interpreter for a part time position in a call center. Soon after, I was invited to take a language skills test, which I passed. Then, I was invited to an interview in which I was told that even if I got the job I could not be guaranteed any number hours per week, not to mention any benefits. Also, I would have to be available to take on-site assignments, which I agreed on, but not before going through a lengthy "on-boarding" process, which included training and a list of immunization records that would date back to my childhood years. All within a 48 hour period. When I inquired about the training period, and whether it was paid or not, I was told yes, that the classroom portion of it was paid, but at a rate that could not be determined, between 10 and 12 an hour. The online part of the training would not be paid, since it was needed to comply with their client request To sum it up, the way I was treated was totally discouraging and condescending, which certainly reflects on the company's unprofessional and discriminatory business practices. Unfortunately, most interpreting companies out there are on the hands of unscrupulous business people, who only care about their bottom line. Sounds familiar?...

      avatar
      Language World Services Response
      10y
      As an employer of professional healthcare interpreters, we are proud of our highly-selective and thorough onboarding process. Unlike all of our competitors, we employ 100% of our workforce and meet all health screen, drug test, background check and regulatory requirements as mandated by our clients who insist that we undergo the same rigorous screening they employ for their own healthcare staff. In addition, we offer industry-leading trainings to ensure the competency so essential to the bedside work that we do. Language World pays for all trainings and continuing education for our onsite interpreters. For those who wish to be a video interpreter (optional, with more set hours), we reimburse for 22 of the 40 client required hours. To help interpreters meet this requirement, we offer complimentary access to 31.5 online hours, and credit previous interpreter training (no expiration date or cap) or medical assistant trainings (no expiration date and up to 8 hours). If an interpreter works an annual average of 30 hours, LWS does offer health benefits. Since we make such a large investment into recruiting skilled linguists, it is not in our interest to hire an interpreter who will not be satisfied with the number of hours worked. We are also upfront about the nature of our client requests: on-demand, 25% emergent and in 1-2 hour increments. Many of our interpreters prefer part-time, flexible work schedules with the ability to turn down individual assignments; however, this is not an 8-5 job and we make no such claims to our interpreter candidates. If these value adds are not made clear to any candidate, we accept full responsibility and will take this review into consideration as we strive to improve upon our onboarding process. It is certainly not our desire to discourage, mislead or rush anyone as they endeavor to become a highly-valued Language World Interpreter.
      1.0
      19 Dec 2014

      You will not get looked after

      Medical interpreter
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      The one star is for the paid annual CEU training and occasional interesting assignments from medical providers. Good for starters if they want to gain more experience as medical interpreters.

      Cons

      No benefits, no promotion and bad management. You have to be available as stand-by/on call for at least 20 hours a week but sometimes you get no assignment at all. The driving time is sometimes longer than actual interpreting time depending on your location. They do pay mileage/travel time but they are for more than one assignment for that day and that is rare too. Promotion is scarce and that might not even be based on merit but your relationship with management.

      avatar
      Language World Services Response
      11y
      Language World Services would like to make mention that LWS employee interpreters, while not eligible for traditional benefit packages, do receive numerous perks to include: Fresh Bennies (A Company-funded Discount Benefit Program), Cell Phone Reimbursements, Parking Reimbursements, Paid Trainings, National Certification Reimbursement, Paid Administrative Time, 1-Hour Reimbursements for Same Day Cancels and No Shows, Travel Time and Full IRS Mileage Compensation. We also offer a "Leveling Up" promotion program which reimburses interpreters at higher rates depending on their linguistic abilities and experience in the field (ranked 1-5). Finally, as an employee of LWS, our interpreters are not responsible for paying their own taxes and are covered by our Worker's Compensation Policies. In our opinion, these differentiators are worth more than a simple guarantee of 2-hours of pay per assignment. While it is always our goal and in our own interest for interpreters to work at their desired capacity, the nature of our business--on-site interpreters dispatched on an as-needed basis--we can only estimate how often within the 20 available hours we might need an interpreter, especially for more rare languages. However, this is something that is made clear to all new hires and of course, interpreters can freely turn down a given assignment if they are not available and/or if the assignment is not in their financial interest. For the majority of our workforce, the opportunity to use their language skills while maintaining a flexible schedule has proven to be one of the most alluring perks of this profession. The LWS Team has been working diligently for nearly 15 years to further professionalize onsite interpreting as a viable career choice and while there is yet more to strive for, we are proud to stand out amongst our competition in both our region and across the nation.
      5.0
      19 Jun 2020

      good company to work for

      Medical interpreter
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      flexible schedule and great working contracts

      Cons

      sometimes did not have enough hours available to work

      Viewing 1 - 3 of 48 Reviews
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      ReviewsLanguage World Services reviews

      Glassdoor has 53 Language World Services reviews submitted anonymously by Language World Services employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Language World Services is right for you.