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 1% 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 4.4 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) , 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 283 reviews)); "You get the chance to work with great people that are very driven and know their subject area very well." ((in 165 reviews)); "Great employees and colleagues" ((in 143 reviews)); "Great company and team to work for." ((in 53 reviews)); "Customers shows lot of respect to the company good work culture" ((in 35 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 101 reviews)); "the pay is low but everything else was great" ((in 85 reviews)); "Management on the corporate side is poor with very little business development experience." ((in 83 reviews)); "level and higher managers result in poor leadership and decision" ((in 55 reviews)); "There are also bad managers and seemingly no easy way to reduce their impact on the staff for whom they are responsible." ((in 46 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.

Elsevier reviews

4.0

79% would recommend to a friend

(2,189 total reviews)

Kumsal Bayazit

91% approve of CEO

75% positive business outlook

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

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Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

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 Audiovisual y medios de comunicación industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

2K reviews

5.0

Dec 16, 2025

Great company, fantastic people!

Product manager

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

very healthy work environment; I am surrounded by competent, self-motivated smart people who work very hard; super inclusive and diverse

Cons

the salary could be higher

4.0

Dec 8, 2025

Not bad, frustrating at times

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

I loved my team and direct manager. Stable work. Smart colleagues. Flexible work arrangements. Trusting relationships.

Cons

Stagnant and bureaucratic. Rarely see improvement on broken processes and underperforming colleagues. Little room for growth.

3.0

Oct 21, 2025

Recent re-orgs, layoffs, and out-of-touch management are dragging my department down

Acquisition editor

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Great work-life balance, great people, interesting work. Excellent Publishers and Publishing Directors.

Cons

The job is made harder by a bad software system that frustrates and disappoints both authors and employees, but Elsevier has invested so much into it that they keep pushing forward with a bad system. Recently an entire department was laid off and replaced with a new team in India. They have been taking longer than anticipated to get up and running, which has been a huge pain point in our workflows. Upper management is always willing to listen to our input and feedback, but never actually implements it. Answers to tough questions, like those surrounding compensation and layoffs, are always cookie cutter and a lot of talking around the question without leveling with employees.

Elsevier Response

7mo

Thanks for leaving your review. We take it seriously. With the business world changing constantly and so rapidly, virtually every established business feels the imperative to continuously improve and innovate. For this reason, executives, managers, and employees across our business work hard to figure out how to best and strategically address the genuine needs of our customers and partners globally.

Viewing 379 - 381 of 2,189 Reviews

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Elsevier

Elsevier reviews

Company ratings over time

Ratings by demographic groups

Reviews by job title

Great company, fantastic people!

Not bad, frustrating at times

Recent re-orgs, layoffs, and out-of-touch management are dragging my department down

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