Elsevier reviews

4.0

79% would recommend to a friend

(2,189 total reviews)

Kumsal Bayazit

90% approve of CEO

75% positive business outlook

Elsevier has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 2,189 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).

Reviews by job title

2K reviews
3.0
Jul 23, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great colleagues and environment in department, great work/life balance. Flexible hours, changing industry and technology means exciting times to work in publishing (if not a little scary). OK perks.

Cons

Unfortunately you will spend a lot of time working below individuals a couple of steps higher up the food chain than you and supporting a tangible lack of skill and ability. Quite often these people would have been promoted into positions they are stuck in with not much hope of advancing further, and you will stay below working for them until they leave of their own accord. It appears that they have been promoted into these positions through being at the company for 10+ years rather than any thorough knowledge or expertise in their role. This is a company where sideways moves into different departments are encouraged which is not necessarily a bad thing, however in this case it is a bad thing due to the fact you will be unable to consider longer terms within your department through lack of roles available (when people have left these roles have been removed completely) and lack of a raise of salary to match your promotion or increase in responsibilities. Demands on workload will remain the same or increase in general. Middle and lower management decisions seem flimsey, ill-informed and knee jerk at best, there is a lack of uptake on training in changing technologys, knowledge of responsibilities of those they manage and deep fear of change pervades this area of management pointedly in the lower areas. Higher management individual roles are constantly changing with no new roles being created lower down. HR focus on a large amount of paperwork regarding reviews and internal moves but do very little to monitor the outcomes of these new procedures.

5.0
Jul 17, 2014

Great opportunity to develop an understanding of publishing industry

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Elsevier have an amazing multinational culture that will add to your skill set, they are more interested in developing employees ,retaining and nurturing talents . They will work with you to develop your career and plan the next move.

Cons

Elsevier must invest more in encouraging employees keep a decent work. life balance and make sure that they are investing effort in development as day to day work.

2.0
Jul 8, 2014

Wasted years

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Generous vacation time once you've worked at the company for more than 5 years, good company 401k match, flex time (can come in at 7 am and leave at 3 pm, for example), 7.5-hr workday, get to leave 2 hours early the day before a holiday, no overtime required, you put in your 7.5 hrs each day and don't have to think about it at night or on weekends. People outside know and respect the brand (mostly).

Cons

Where should I start? I have to echo another reviewer by saying, Can I have the last decade-plus of my working life back? I rue the day that I ever accepted an offer from Elsevier. Better to have stayed unemployed for a longer time. Management is just awful...I have worked for some truly evil and self-serving people who intentionally keep their employees down and said and done things that would have had them fired years ago at any other place. Had to go above my line manager to beg for a promotion even though I was doing her job and mine. Too many middle managers who don't know their heads from a hole in the ground. People work here for decades and are promoted on who they are friends with and not because they deserve it. There is NO room to grow except for a select chosen few, and although the company likes to say there are so many opps, once you are hired in a dept. it is VERY difficult to move into another dept. Raises are a joke--you're lucky if you get 2 percent "cost of living" every year. Also have to echo another reviewer who said that "fake" positions are created to give the illusion of "job opportunities" and room to grow, and truer words were never spoken. Too many role changes. People are pushing paper and not using their skills. Also, did I mention everything has either been outsourced to other countries or is well on its way to being so in the near future? Morale is in the toilet and it's nothing but negative energy in most areas. I have been trying to escape for years but the economy tanking & other factors have kept me from doing so. Hope to be able to change this profile to "Former Employee" sooner rather than later.

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Glassdoor has 2,534 Elsevier reviews submitted anonymously by Elsevier employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Elsevier is right for you.