Is Elsevier a good company to work for?

Elsevier has an overall rating of 4.0 out of 5, based on over 2,530 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months. 79% of employees would recommend working at Elsevier to a friend and 75% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about Elsevier have been left by employees working as Software Engineer , Editor and Manager .

Does Elsevier pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Elsevier employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.6 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Elsevier. This rating has improved by 2% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Elsevier?

79% of Elsevier employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Elsevier 4.5 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.3 for culture and values and 3.6 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Elsevier?

Software Engineer (78) , Senior Software Engineer (63) , Account Manager (61) , Product Manager (55) , Journal Manager (49) , Project Manager (37) , Publisher (30) , Director (29) , Editor (28) , Manager (23) , Sales (22) , Editorial Project Manager (20) , Marketing (18) , Software Engineer III (18) , Data Scientist (16)

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

"Flexibility and good work/life balance" ((in 275 reviews)); "You get the chance to work with great people that are very driven and know their subject area very well." ((in 167 reviews)); "Great employees and colleagues" ((in 146 reviews)); "Great company and team to work for." ((in 54 reviews)); "Work from home and flexible hours" ((in 41 reviews))

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

"We're continued to be asked to develop "world class content" with third world resources and insultingly low salaries." ((in 95 reviews)); "the pay is low but everything else was great" ((in 87 reviews)); "Management on the corporate side is poor with very little business development experience." ((in 82 reviews)); "level and higher managers result in poor leadership and decision" ((in 53 reviews)); "There are also bad managers and seemingly no easy way to reduce their impact on the staff for whom they are responsible." ((in 48 reviews))

What are employees saying about Elsevier layoffs in 2026?

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

What Elsevier locations have received the highest employee ratings?

Gainesville , Pittsburgh , San Diego , Dayton , Tampa , New York

Elsevier reviews

4.0

79% would recommend to a friend

(2,185 total reviews)

Kumsal Bayazit

90% approve of CEO

75% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

4.5

Work/Life balance

4.4

Diversity & inclusion

4.3

Culture & values

3.6

Senior management

3.6

Compensation and benefits

3.6

Career opportunities

Elsevier has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 2,185 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Elsevier employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Media & Communication 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

2.0

Jun 15, 2018

Educational Sales Consultant

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Flexibility with schedules and they provide a company vehicle.

Cons

Not huge on promoting within. The work expectations are not realistic, especially with the problems with products and internal service issues.

Elsevier Response

7y

Thank you for your review. As an organization, we see our people as our strength. For this reason, we always strive to promote from within whenever possible. We also provide opportunities for career path discussions to take place between individuals and their managers. In addition, we made innovative learning platforms and development opportunities available to our employees. You must have noticed that we are rolling out various other initiatives to further help develop our workforce. We encourage all our employees to use the channels, tools and learning resources available to them to drive ongoing career development discussions with their managers and also upskill for future roles within the company.

3.0

Dec 16, 2017

A solid place to work that needs new leadership

Engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

They have renovated all the floors in the Philadelphia office to be a more modern workplace. The 16th and 17th floors have the open concept with no assigned seating. The 18th floor (the engineering floor) does have assigned seating with standing desks and all the fun modern stuff you would expect in a tech environment. Speaking of tech environment, Elsevier is making a strong push to become more a technology company than just a health information company. As an engineer, you’ll be using pretty up-to-date programs and protocols to write software. The kitchen is pretty nice with a beer fridge. People in general who work there are quite chill and understanding. Work life balance can be good if you set good guidelines. If you are always available to work, the team will constantly ask you to do something (nights/weekends/holidays/etc). If you are off your phone and not answering Slack messages or emails, people will get the gist and let you live your life outside of work. 401(k) match of 5% is solid.

Cons

Health benefits are quite expensive. Management needs a lot of work. Leadership here is quite poor and it starts from the top. Whether it be non-professional behaviors from execs, to just not understanding how to lead a group, Elsevier needs to really think about what to do here. Some of the software is unstable (especially during high traffic periods) and can crash a lot. Instead of the teams going back and trying to stabilize the platforms that need to be stabilized, there is a constant rush to get new features out and hence more instability. While, yes, this is common with many companies, it would still be nice to work on the issues that consistently plague some of the software.

1.0

Dec 1, 2017

Regional Sales

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Quarterly bonus, insurance, vacation, great smart co-workers

Cons

Terrible upper management , clueless in leadership, unrealistic goals, outdated software

Viewing 55 - 57 of 2,185 Reviews

Jobs at Elsevier

Business Program Manager

Quality Test Engineer III

Elsevier

Elsevier reviews

Ratings by category

Ratings by demographic groups

Reviews by job title

Educational Sales Consultant

A solid place to work that needs new leadership

Regional Sales

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