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 Audiovisual y medios de comunicación industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

2K reviews
2.0
Oct 14, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Good benefits - Some motivated management

Cons

- Entrepreneurship is (perhaps inadvertently) discouraged if it comes from non-management; new ideas are not appreciated and get lost in the corporate shuffle. Feeling that you should "know your place." - Low job security - Low morale - Low pay - Sterile buildings - No transparency; always murmurings of changes but little communication. - Promotions are based on "time served" rather than skill level or accomplishments. That, combined with poor employee incentive programs, means there is little motivation to work above and beyond. - Poor strategic decisions from upper management (arbitrary employee title changes meant to give the appearance of "evolving with the times" with no substance behind them, constant re-orgs, and a new project management system designed blindly, without any input from the people who would be using it on a daily basis) - Strategic/organizational decisions are made at a glacial pace and with little communication to non-management.

2.0
Aug 10, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

market leading brand fair compensation to new employees nice office space, convenient commute company promotes volunteer activities

Cons

poor investment in technology poor communication from upper management silos of organization prevent effective cooperation between buisness units promotion/pay increase opportunities very limited

3.0
Jan 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Super interesting work and great people. I have never loved my work or team as much as I did at Elsevier. Best managers I've had at any company. They really looked out for their team and I felt like they always had our backs.

Cons

Stealth layoffs / redundancies to avoid appearance of slashing a considerable part of the workforce. It was pretty common to hear "they keep disappearing people" whenever I was in the office. (I was one of the disappeared.) No in-seat promotions in many departments effectively stunts career growth beyond lateral moves.

Viewing 223 - 225 of 2,189 Reviews

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.