Reed Elsevier Group Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Reed Elsevier Group full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Very old, stable, multinational, science, technology, and medicine publishing company that offers excellent benefits and steady employment.

Cons – Leadership is not very independent minded and tends to get caught up in trends that cause employee frustrations.

Advice to Senior Management – Add more women to senior management and stop being so Dutch.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Reed Elsevier Group full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Good benefits and some perks

Cons – Management that is so out of touch with reality and more important, it's employees. People stay for their paycheck and lack of options.
Constant daily changes with no regard of what employees already do, and they never consult those who do the job to see if even feasible.
Lower level employees are held accountable for all management decisions. Management is never held accountable.
If you disagree you're fired.
No internal advancement, they only load up staff with no opinion staffers.
No women to upper management. Men rule at all levels.

Advice to Senior Management – Wake up! Morale is in the toilet and after all these years I repairable. Don't know anyone, and I've been here 10+ years likes where they work, or would ever speak up because of daily fear drilled into us.
I'd say listen to your employees....but trust factor left long ago, as was respect.
Practice your own company values!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Reed Elsevier Group full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – The people are dedicated and committed to excellence
The bonus packages and pension plans are good, better than many of my friend's packages who work for different companies
Diverse businesses present unique advancement opportunities

Cons – Poor communication lends itself to an atmosphere where rumors are rampant
Difficult to break into executive management internally
Lack of cohesiveness across affiliates

Advice to Senior Management – Do more to bring affiliates together to share learnings and best practices.
Periodically share corporate strategy and vision to ensure the employees on the front line have a clear idea of where we're going at a corporate level and not just within their divisions.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Reed Elsevier Group full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – The culture was stable and secure.

Cons – The company did not stir innovation.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Reed Elsevier Group full-time for more than a year

Pros – European owned company - 37.5 hr work week! Good balance work/life balance....you aren't working crazy hours which can be a common expectation in the marketing field at other companies. Learning opportunities are readily available in order to promote advancement in your career. Friendly people to work with.

Cons – The salaries are a bit low.

Advice to Senior Management – To keep good workers, salaries need to be a bit more competitive.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Reed Elsevier Group full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Great benefits, work/life balance. Advancement can happen if you play the politics right and are ambitious. Flexibility allows for internal job switching if an opportunity comes.

Cons – My personal experience was bad because I worked for the American publishing division which was eventually sold off. The division I worked for was in sale mode for nearly four years, and that meant very little investment in technology or business expansion. Overall, the senior management seemed directionless and inaccessible. There was little or no communication between the various divisions.

Former Employee – worked at Reed Elsevier Group full-time for more than a year

Pros – Editorial group was a pleasure to work with.
Enjoyed the "family-oriented company" atmosphere.
Company sponsored events for employees.
On-site cafeteria.

Cons – Ongoing restructuring led to disorganization and confusing strategy.
Difficulty in synching product delivery with IT.
Unprofessional behavior from manager was never addressed by HR.

Advice to Senior Management – Micromanaging never leads to a positive product outcome. Suggest stepping back and letting editorial staff do his/her job.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Reed Elsevier Group full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – Reliable, stable. Better than average benefits (health, etc.). Some opportunities for advancement. Professional, positive overall culture. Welcoming of thinkers, planners and problem-solvers.

Cons – Rather bureaucratic and prone to red tape. Too focused on communication via e-mail and meetings, less on actual actions and executions. Executive management very disconnected from business units under them, and more administrative and operational than able to harness strengths and able to get better depth for better results.

Advice to Senior Management – Seek out advice from middle management and actual employees that do actual work. Clear red tape. Do away with 'design by committee' mentality. Implement small, focused teams with power (funds, resources) to innovate and build on ideas.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Reed Elsevier Group full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Good people with good opportunities for growth

Cons – Not interested in products we produce

Advice to Senior Management – use more incentive based pay at lower levels

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Reed Elsevier Group

Pros – Great work life balance, they understand that employees have lives and the goal is to do your job not just show up in a specific location.

It is a truly global organization so the opportunity to interact meaningfully with a wide range of people is very real.

Cons – Elsevier can be very euro-centric in how people are promoted and treated. When I was there it was much more common for Europeans to be promoted into senior U.S. based positions than the opposite. It came across as a glass ceiling for Americans.

Getting things done can be tedious. There are layers of internal departments who main function appears to be form completion and project delay. This is common to many large organizations so it's not a unique problem. It did get worse over time though as more MBAs entered the business.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend