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      PLOS

      Engaged Employer

      PLOS reviews

      3.1

      49% would recommend to a friend

      (113 total reviews)

      Alison Mudditt

      72% approve of CEO

      38% positive business outlook

      Ratings by demographic groups

      PLOS has an employee rating of 3.1 out of 5 stars, based on 113 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The PLOS employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Media & Communication industry (3.7 stars).

      Reviews by job title

      113 reviews
      3.0
      May 20, 2021

      The right idea, butshort-sighted approach to staffing persists

      Editor
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      - The people at PLOS are bright, friendly, engaged and a pleasure to work with. - The company does genuinely care about its staff and they do make efforts to ensure that people are supported - work is flexible, good support during COVID, birthday and extra days off during winter holidays. Their heart is in the right place, at least. - Working for a not-for-profit means that not every activity needs to financially motivated, although the purse strings are still tight - After several years of haemorrhaging money we are now in the black, although sometimes this at the cost of well-being and performance - Compensation is good - There is not a culture of working very long hours like there is in other areas (e.g. consulting) - There are negatives of working at PLOS, but the positives absolutely outweigh the negatives. I love my job and working for PLOS - it's not perfect but I would recommend others work here. I am sure the problems at PLOS are prevalent in other organisations too.

      Cons

      - The tight purse strings are starting to harm morale and journal performance. We're launching several new titles which has put a real strain on the organisation. Rather than hire staff to help out with this, the approach has to been to overload already overloaded staff with yet more work. This has put personal pressure on those spread too thin, but has also started harm other journals as staff previously devoted to one title are neglecting their original titles and backlogs are forming. Whilst we have hired a fair few positions recently, these have often been in brand new roles at a high level. - Decreasing value placed on in-house expertise as more tasks are outsourced - people have started leaving for this reason.

      5.0
      Sep 2, 2019

      Great place to work

      Editor
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      I have worked in editorial positions at several other science publishers and my experience with PLOS has been the best by far. What I really like about PLOS, and what I think sets it apart from other publishers, is: - The mission. Colleagues and management genuinely care about open access and it just feels great to work for a company that cares about more than just turning a profit or delivering results to shareholders. - The office environment. Colleagues are friendly and supportive, and generous with their time and expertise. People seem to genuinely get along. PLOS also facilitates opportunities to meet with people outside of your immediate team through regular meetings and weekly social events, which helps foster collaboration and unity. - The editorial teams. PLOS is staffed by some of the smartest and hardest working people around. The workload can be intense – there is always more work than there are hours in the day, and the submissions never stop coming – but the goals are reasonable and the senior managers take steps to ensure that the workload is manageable for all editors. I’ve never before worked for a company that cares so much about employees’ work-life balance and where concerns about workload are openly discussed and acted upon. - The work. There’s a lot of it, but it’s varied and interesting. You’ll learn something new and different each day. - The management. The CEO has set a tone of openness and respect within the company. She gives updates at regular company-wide briefings but also holds open office hours to meet 1:1 with all interested employees. She has a very clear view of how she wants to see the company grow in the coming years, which she communicates regularly (and directly) to all staff members. These briefings really help reinforce how our work is contributing to success of the overall mission. Furthermore, the sense of openness and respect is readily apparent in other areas of the company – for example, human resources, who are just about the kindest and most considerate and helpful people on the planet (which has not been my experience at any other company!); and finance, who share regular updates on the company’s overall health and respond immediately to any questions regarding payroll or reimbursement. Employees are treated really well.

      Cons

      Science publishing in general is going through a massive upheaval, and it’s not at all clear what the landscape will look like in 5-10 years. I have a lot of confidence in our CEO and senior managers, as they’ve already made some really hard choices to help PLOS weather the uncertainty that lies ahead. Unfortunately, those hard choices have led to problems with morale in some cases. This is now a known issue and is being openly discussed, though it’s tricky to solve. Overall, I feel like PLOS is firmly on the right track, though there have been and will continue to be some bumps and diversions along the way. Additionally, as PLOS is not a massive publisher, opportunities for career advancement are a little limited once you've been in a role for a couple of years. PLOS invests heavily in personal development, so you'll develop skills that will make you an attractive candidate for positions outside of PLOS, but it's a shame that there are not more career opportunities at higher levels within PLOS. I don't think anything can be done about it, it's just a facet of working for a smaller publisher, and there are many pros to outweigh this particular con.

      3.0
      Feb 13, 2017

      Make or break time

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Great mission Very smart, dedicated & interesting colleagues Dynamic environment Regular WiFris and fun events

      Cons

      Some departmental divides--egos can sometimes get in the way. Some management issues Changing CEOs (currently an interim in post, will be interesting to see who/what happens next) ... this is turnaround time for the org. Board of Director involvement can destabilise when direction of the organisation flip-flops as a result of the latest edict. This creates a reactionary environment and frequent 'crisis-mode' status that is not constructive. Direction/Strategic crunch time - can't decide whether to be an under-resourced IT company that puts out sub-par products that the org struggles to maintain (also for which added value and/or revenue is unclear), or a publisher that puts out quality journals.

      avatar
      PLOS Response
      9y
      Thank you for your very thoughtful review. It is clear that you care about PLOS and want to see it and it's employees thrive. I will be sure to share your review with senior management. Please feel free to call me or stop by to chat if you would like to discuss further. Thanks, --Mariah, HR
      Viewing 91 - 93 of 113 Reviews
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      ReviewsPLOS reviews

      Glassdoor has 124 PLOS reviews submitted anonymously by PLOS employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if PLOS is right for you.