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 76% 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 289 reviews)); "You get the chance to work with great people that are very driven and know their subject area very well." ((in 163 reviews)); "Great employees and colleagues" ((in 145 reviews)); "Great company and team to work for." ((in 57 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 93 reviews)); "the pay is low but everything else was great" ((in 89 reviews)); "Management on the corporate side is poor with very little business development experience." ((in 81 reviews)); "level and higher managers result in poor leadership and decision" ((in 53 reviews)); "Bad managers aren't re" ((in 50 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

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Elsevier

Part of RELX

Elsevier reviews

4.0

79% would recommend to a friend

(2,185 total reviews)

Kumsal Bayazit

91% approve of CEO

76% 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

Sep 2, 2017

Terrible Leadersip and Upper Management

Education solutions cons

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Great colleagues. Previously known for strong content but that is suffering with current management initiatives.

Cons

Lack of industry knowledge by senior leadership. Inability to admit strategic mistakes and refocus. Poor sales pay bonus structure. Loss of appreciation of the importance of happy employees and happy customers. No investment in sales support and proper infrastructure to support sales people and customer needs.

2.0

Jan 26, 2017

Great People - Terrible Everything Else

Developmental editor

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

The main pro is, hands down, the people. Ask anyone currently working at Elsevier and they'll tell you that the only reason they are staying with the company is because of the people they work with. Aside from the people, I would say that a big pro for me is getting to work in traditional publishing. As a lover of literature, getting to work with book development is a dream come true. However, traditional publishing is dying and there are CONSTANT layoffs to reflect how poorly the business is doing.

Cons

Constant layoffs and restructuring due to lack of sales. People aren't buying books anymore; they are doing e-versions of everything. The pay is terrible for the amount of work that people are required to do. Employees have no faith or admiration for the higher ups. We see them spending company money like it's nothing, and then firing dozens of people at a time because we don't have enough money to pay them.

3.0

Jun 26, 2017

Akward transition period

Manager

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Employees are great, made many friends at Elsevier.

Cons

Company is in a major transition from print to digital. In its panic to move the business forward, looking more at short-term than long term

Viewing 10 - 12 of 2,185 Reviews

Jobs at Elsevier

Business Program Manager

Quality Test Engineer III