Reed Elsevier Group Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Reed Elsevier Group

Pros – The largest publisher in the world, delivering critical material to science professionals that ultimately helps in discoveries to improve life and living everywhere.

Cons – This applies to the books group only: Heavily matrixed organization, difficult to learn one's way. Systems need work. Change is constant. Sr exec sometimes insults/berates employees publicly and allows an environment for other employees to follow suit.

Advice to Senior Management – Senior mgmt (books) needs to show more maturity in group meetings and people management.

Current Employee – been working at Reed Elsevier Group

Pros – Because you can't find a better job, because the economy is so bad that you would rather risk pending layoffs than work fast food. Because you like creating designs for work being outsourced. Because you are afraid to do better

Cons – All of the real work is done in India

Advice to Senior Management – Tell the truth, don't spin. Employees are not as blind as you think.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Reed Elsevier Group

Pros – Great co-workers, until they left for better places to work

Cons – Management is so unknowledgeable about the business that they constantly hire outside consultants to tell them what to do. We've seen every one you can name. Bain, McKenzie, Monitor, PWC, and others. They even had an initiative one year on "Innovation." And of course, Crispin Davis hired an outside consulting firm and paid them millions of dollars to run an "innovation" program. Be innovative, or else!!! In that program, of the ideas that "won," and were therefore funded, none ever came to anything. The one I was most aware of was quietly killed after about two years, having achieved absolutely none of its objectives and having cost a ton of money. OF COURSE all this was funded by cutting programs for normal everyday business. True innovation, either by ongoing improvement, or leapfrog ideas, is smothered, because management doesn't trust people with ideas. They only trust people with MBAs from a specific handful of business schools and then only if they have had work experience with-- you guessed it, those consulting firms.

The senior management of Reed Elsevier Group doesn't know enough about the companies in the group to be able to assess the decision-making and leadership of the management teams for the divisions.

Advice to Senior Management – Crispin Davis is being replaced. To the new guy I say: look very very carefully at what is going on, especially in the United States. Read all the reviews on Glassdoor.com about all the RE companies. There is a lot of concern and complaints about outsourcing, but even putting that issue aside, you need to be aware that the management of these companies is abysmal. Oh, and by the way, all that outsourcing? Check into whether the cost savings are really there over the long term. And further, what will be the ultimate incremental cost if you try to repair the significant loss in quality (a concern which is being brushed aside, as the message gets massaged at each level as it goes up the management chain).

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Reed Elsevier Group

Pros – Great salary. Very smart and experienced people.

Cons – Complete lack of substantive communication from senior management. They communicate, but we have no clue why they do what they do.

Advice to Senior Management – Tell us when the layoffs will stop. Tell us what the overall strategy is.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Reed Elsevier Group

Pros – Reed Elsevier provides a decent salary and package, compared to the rest of the industry, which is in dire straits.. Some nice co-workers made the experience pleasant on a day to day basis. Management is pleasant on the face of it, as it is most places in publishing, but gives poor, useless, or no feedback while a project is going on. It has a good reputation in an industry which has the shakes, thanks to diversified products that keep its neck above water.

Cons – There is poor communication throughout the system, a throwback to an era when things moved along at a lazy pace in publishing. But it matters a lot today. Heavy on the politics, even to the detriment of work time.

Advice to Senior Management – Better communication up and down. Reward outstanding contributors to the team effort.

Former Employee – worked at Reed Elsevier Group

Pros – The company is based in Europe, so the attitude throughout the U.S. offices seems to be a tad more "Euro" also. Great vacation time, sick time, AND personal days. Managers are known for being fairly chill and understanding. There is also the opportunity to travel if you have been at the company long enough, and if you are lucky, basically.

Cons – LOW pay and VERY limited opportunity for advancement, even though management (via corporate)tries to act like there is, by requiring you to fill out a "personal development plan" that is basically BS. It is a genius idea to keep us motivated, but it becomes a big joke to anyone who had been there longer than a year. My branch was also littered with people who were probably considered "unemployable" for the most part, and were just happy to have a job.

Advice to Senior Management – Be a bit more candid about our significance in the company. We know there is little to no chance for promotion. We know our job is easily replaced by outsourcing (or more sophisticated softwware). Don't kiss our ass and give us a condescending pat on the head (or a measly $5 starbux card) when we do something right. Anyone who has a half a brain can see through it and it's demoralizing.

Current Employee – been working at Reed Elsevier Group

Pros – Good location, decent facility. Employees generally able to balance work & home life.

Cons – Limited career path. Outsourcing / offshoring will probably continue. Other IT career opportunities in Dayton are limited.

Advice to Senior Management – Even a reasonably intelligent person can detect BS so don't give it to us.

Current Employee – been working at Reed Elsevier Group

Pros – People, Technology A sense of ownership in the process.

Cons – Its diffiuclt to advance your career, no clear cut objectives and measurements for advancement

Advice to Senior Management – Get a clue. Think about what it is you just forced the organization to do and rethink your intentions. Short term gain focus ultimately causes significant friction in the the long term. I think you only need to look at AIG and other foundering institutions who based many of their recent decisions on the short term gain and shor term shareholder happiness

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Reed Elsevier Group

Pros – Work is diverse and challenging

Cons – They are outsourcing the software and app development employees

Advice to Senior Management – Cost is not the only solution to being "World Class"!