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 277 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 137 reviews)); "Great company and team to work for." ((in 54 reviews)); "Customers shows lot of respect to the company good work culture" ((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 98 reviews)); "The pay is low and does not increase by much each year" ((in 85 reviews)); "Management on the corporate side is poor with very little business development experience." ((in 80 reviews)); "level and higher managers result in poor leadership and decision" ((in 54 reviews)); "Bad managers aren't re" ((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

1.0

Mar 6, 2021

No work/ life balance and jobs moving overseas

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Great people Opportunity to travel

Cons

Poor management Favoritism by management Jobs moving overseas Way to many job eliminations Lack of communication

Elsevier Response

5y

Thank you for your review. We're sorry to hear from you as a former employee that you didn't enjoy your time with us. Frankly, we are shocked to read these negative comments as these are not what our work culture and organization represent. We are all working together as we strive to create a work environment that respects individuals and their contributions. Diversity of people and ideas creates value for our customers. We are fully committed to creating a great, fair and equitable work environment for our people all over the world promoting and enabling equal opportunity, regardless of their gender, gender identity, national origin, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or age at every level in our organisation. We need the engagement of people from a wide range of backgrounds, experiences and ideas to achieve real innovation for our customers around the world. Please reach out to us so that we can find out more regarding your review. Feel free to send us an email at elseviergdrev@elsevier.com

4.0

Feb 18, 2021

How much is flexibility worth?

Product manager

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Work life balance is amazing, though I’m sure it depends on who you report to. But most managers are very flexible it seems. Elsevier tries hard to provide a good working environment and have on site events throughout the year. They’re not that amazing to be honest, but you can tell they’re trying. Vast majority of people, even the Director level and executives are approachable and down to earth.

Cons

The pay is dismal. They do promote from within, a lot. But that’s only if someone leaves. Getting a promotion based on work performance or increased workload happens insanely slow. It literally takes years.

1.0

Jan 27, 2019

Where Talent Goes to Die

Practice update sales

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

benefits, not including vacation time, are decent; don't work very hard for your check

Cons

company is unable and unwilling to move past its paper publishing roots, practiceupdate and all other digital products are total crap and can't consistently be sold, PU team has no clue how to run a digital media business and wants to hire talent but then has no clue and doesn't care to leverage them properly, management is unwilling or doesn't care to evolve into 21st century media so the company will go down holding onto its publishing roots

Viewing 70 - 72 of 2,185 Reviews

Jobs at Elsevier

Quality Test Engineer III

Cell Press Blue Scientific Editor

Elsevier

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No work/ life balance and jobs moving overseas

How much is flexibility worth?

Where Talent Goes to Die

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