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 2% 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 4.5 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.3 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 (20) , 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 289 reviews)); "You get the chance to work with great people that are very driven and know their subject area very well." ((in 163 reviews)); "Great employees and colleagues" ((in 145 reviews)); "Great company and team to work for." ((in 57 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 93 reviews)); "the pay is low but everything else was great" ((in 89 reviews)); "Management on the corporate side is poor with very little business development experience." ((in 81 reviews)); "level and higher managers result in poor leadership and decision" ((in 53 reviews)); "Bad managers aren't re" ((in 50 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

(2,185 total reviews)

Kumsal Bayazit

91% approve of CEO

76% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

4.5

Work/Life balance

4.4

Diversity & inclusion

4.3

Culture & values

3.6

Senior management

3.6

Compensation and benefits

3.6

Career opportunities

Elsevier has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 2,185 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).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

2K reviews

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.

4.0

Oct 15, 2025

Great work-life balance, good people, but things move slowly

Application architect

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Elsevier has a very good workplace culture, and employees are well supported. There are opportunities for training and development, with dedicated time that you can book for development days. People are kind and constructive and there is a very inclusive culture. It's a nice place to work.

Cons

Elsevier is large organisation with a lot of legacy code and applications. The organisational structures do not always make it easy to move fast. It can be frustrating if you come from a background in technology start-up and want to change things quickly,

Elsevier Response

7mo

Thank you for taking the time to leave your review. Through organizational commitment, we take a combined approach to our people's professional development strategies.

2.0

Oct 14, 2025

Low pay and exploitative

Editorial assistant

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Some nice colleagues but that doesn’t pay the bills

Cons

Pay extremely low, 23k is not enough to survive on

Elsevier Response

7mo

Thanks for leaving your review and for working with us for four years. We are disappointed to hear that you were not happy with your compensation package for the duration of your time with us. We benchmark our salaries externally; we use both a general benchmark and a job-specific benchmark to ensure we stay competitive. We also offer competitive rates plus an array of great benefits.

Viewing 76 - 78 of 2,185 Reviews

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Elsevier

Elsevier reviews

Ratings by category

Ratings by demographic groups

Reviews by job title

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

Great work-life balance, good people, but things move slowly

Low pay and exploitative

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