Elsevier reviews

4.0

79% would recommend to a friend

(2,182 total reviews)

Kumsal Bayazit

91% approve of CEO

76% positive business outlook

Elsevier has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 2,182 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
Jul 12, 2017

Great prospects in information economy

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Elsevier is successfully transitioning from a publisher to an information analytics company. Great, unique assets for an information economy and recently also a world-class IT organization. People here are genuinely helpful and supportive.

Cons

Elsevier has become more bureaucratic, many levels of approval in a highly matrixed organization. It needs real dedication to drive innovation. High effort just to complete the paperwork.

1.0
Nov 15, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good benefits, 401k matching, and flex-time —if you feel comfortable taking time off. They support volunteering and are always doing something to raise money for charities

Cons

Sweatshop, no organization, and micromanaged from the top. They don’t care about their people. People who have been there for awhile are leaving faster than they can hire, they are speaking up about why, but no one is listening.

1.0
Jun 5, 2017

10 Reasons NOT to work at Elsevier

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

1. Excellent content 2. Very smart and good colleagues to work with outside of the leadership team 3. Well, there isn't a third

Cons

What was so incredibly disappointing to me was that I was thrilled to get a job with this company. I left a company I loved bc I anticipated growing, and learning, and sharpening my skills. I knew some of my colleagues were sharp, so I was excited to learn so much working here. However, what I didn't anticipate was the reality. The place is a train wreck. It was a nightmare from the first week. On boarding was done through about 50 different links to various company sites, to be done on my own, constant mixed messages and signals from the start, and most employees are so busy covering themselves bc of the accusatory environment that that "team" thing? Doesn't exist. So, I have a list of 10 reasons not to work there, but it could be much, much longer. 1. Leadership is the company's biggest disrupter. Too many chiefs, personal agendas and managing up, instead of leading employees. It is destroying them from the inside. 2. HR is in no support for the employees 3. Very unhealthy environment. Accusatory, and full of endless stress and "never good enough" mentality of leaders. 4. Policies are not clear and leadership at several levels approve things, but the only people held accountable for "breaking policy" are the people on the bottom. Very, very unclear when to follow leadership and when not to??... 5. Benefits are not good for a company of its size. Expensive benefits and pay raises are terrible. 6. Bottom line driven over employee satisfaction and retention 7. Leadership could care less about employees. No loyalty to even top performers, only loyalty is to the yearly return promised to investors. Whatever it takes leadership. 8. HR is afraid to fire certain workers who have been documented by multiple managers as not honest, and not working, yet will fire others without any warning. 9. Employee expectations and reviews are never done on time. I got my expectations at the end of the year right before I had my annual review, little tough to achieve in a couple of weeks. No one can hold leadership accountable' yet employees are held tight to what's expected of them, even if it wasn't communicated in a timeframe manageable to be delivered. 10. VERY unhealthy environment. Oh wait, did I say this already? It bears repeating because it is, so much so that people leave, just quit without even having another job to go to. There are so many incredibly smart, hard-working, talented, yet unhappy, miserable employees. I cannot believe for a company that has such amazing content and R& D behind it, and manages to get such high quality talent, and throws out so many employee satisfaction surveys, that NO ONE in leadership is actually hearing what their people are telling them. But, then again, leadership is this company's greatest disrupter. That's what happens when everyone manages up.

Viewing 4 - 6 of 2,182 Reviews

Glassdoor has 2,527 Elsevier reviews submitted anonymously by Elsevier employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Elsevier is right for you.