Is Elsevier a good company to work for?

Elsevier has an overall rating of 4.0 out of 5, based on over 2,541 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months. 78% of employees would recommend working at Elsevier to a friend and 74% 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 3.5 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Elsevier. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Elsevier?

78% of Elsevier employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Elsevier 4.4 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.2 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 (21) , Software Engineer III (20) , Marketing (18) , Data Scientist (16)

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

"Flexibility and good work/life balance" ((in 290 reviews)); "You get the chance to work with great people that are very driven and know their subject area very well." ((in 159 reviews)); "Great employees and colleagues" ((in 135 reviews)); "Great company and team to work for." ((in 55 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 97 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 80 reviews)); "level and higher managers result in poor leadership and decision" ((in 52 reviews)); "There are also bad managers and seemingly no easy way to reduce their impact on the staff for whom they are responsible." ((in 51 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 are the top reviewed Elsevier locations?

Philadelphia , New York , Saint Louis , Maryland Heights , San Diego , Atlanta , Gainesville , Dayton , Boston , Cambridge , Houston , Pittsburgh , Tampa , Phila , Orlando , Washington , San Francisco , Waltham , Texas City , Minneapolis , Miamisburg , Berkeley , Rockville , Miami , Salt Lake City , Chicago , Dallas , Los Angeles , North Andover , Woodbury

Elsevier reviews

4.0

78% would recommend to a friend

(2,196 total reviews)

Kumsal Bayazit

89% approve of CEO

74% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

4.4

Diversity & inclusion

4.4

Work/Life balance

4.2

Culture & values

3.6

Senior management

3.6

Career opportunities

3.5

Compensation and benefits

Elsevier has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 2,196 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

Nov 14, 2017

Sales

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible schedule when not traveling. Not too micromanaged. Vacation is two weeks, but I negotiated for 3.

Cons

Extremely disorganized. Poor training. The worst training I have seen. Goals werenot even released until September for the current calendar year. Software updates and changes are released too early so always apologizing to customer for technical issues. Reps are not even trained on new product sometimes before it is released. I thought it would be a great job, before I took it. Looked good on paper I constantly regretted leaving my previous job. In one year I had 3 bosses. I was never paid my bonus that I counted on when I took the job so I earned less than I thought I would.

4.0

Nov 13, 2017

Working as a company

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Great global reach with a vast amount of global collaboration Excellent experience within the management teams Good engagement with employees

Cons

Decision making in key pivotal areas takes a long time Vision and departmental objectives are not cascaded within a timely manner leading to uncertainty and lack of direction

Elsevier Response

8y

Thank you for your review. Regarding decision making, quick decisions are made every day globally and on time. However, crucial decisions may need facts, figures and various other information even if the timescale is tight. By now, you must be aware of our efforts and focus on speed in everything we do. A global organization of our size will always strive to get things right the first time. We are doing an incredible amount of work to ensure that we get the balance right.

2.0

Nov 12, 2017

Constant Changes, Consolidations and Reorgs

Senior editor

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Large organization with decent benefits.

Cons

I worked at Elsevier for 4 years and had four different managers. Every year and sometimes every six months there were changes and reorgs. No real sense of loyalty to employees. The bottom line is all that matters.

Viewing 1651 - 1653 of 2,196 Reviews

Jobs at Elsevier

Customer Success Manager, Clinical Solutions

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