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Oxford University Press Employee Reviews about "low pay"
Updated 11 Jan 2021
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Pros
"Good brand value, good work life balance" (in 68 reviews)
"OUP is a friendly, congenial working environment with excellent amenities and worker benefits" (in 62 reviews)
Pros & Cons are excerpts from user reviews. They are not authored by Glassdoor.
Reviews about "low pay"
Return to all Reviews"Prestigious organisation"
- Work/Life Balance★★★★★
- Culture & Values★★★★★
- Career Opportunities★★★★★
- Compensation and Benefits★★★★★
RecommendsNeutral OutlookApproves of CEOI have been working at Oxford University Press full-time for more than 3 years
Pros
Prestigious academic publisher in lovely Oxford. The chance to work on a variety of interesting, and ground-breaking books and working with wonderful colleagues across the teams.
Cons
Low pay and slow career progression
We appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback. We’re very proud of the range of amazing products we create. To your points around career development and salary, we want all of our employees to feel they are able to forge a career at OUP, and supporting career development is a key focus area for us. We are also working with our reward teams to review salaries across our markets. To tell us more about your time at OUP, get in touch via glassdoor@oup.com.
- Helpful (2)
"In general lines OUP is good but it doesn't feel a very modern place to work"
- Work/Life Balance★★★★★
- Culture & Values★★★★★
- Career Opportunities★★★★★
- Compensation and Benefits★★★★★
- Senior Management★★★★★
RecommendsPositive OutlookNo Opinion of CEOI have been working at Oxford University Press full-time for more than 8 years
Pros
Great building, facilities and people are great to work with
Cons
Low pay, nearly impossible to work across different teams to learn new technologies because management will not allow it.
Continue readingOxford University Press Response
June 11, 2019 – OUP Glassdoor Account Manager
Hi, thanks for the feedback - it's great to see you'd recommend us as a place to work and we note your thoughts on technology and flexibility. If you have any questions or additional comments you can email us at glassdoor@oup.com
"Nice Workplace"
- Work/Life Balance★★★★★
- Culture & Values★★★★★
- Career Opportunities★★★★★
- Compensation and Benefits★★★★★
- Senior Management★★★★★
RecommendsNeutral OutlookApproves of CEOI have been working at Oxford University Press full-time for less than a year
Pros
Lovely office, great people, friendly atmosphere that makes you feel valued. Good work life balance, flexible hours.
Cons
Very low pay, slow career progression, company slow to respond to market changes
Continue readingOxford University Press Response
February 18, 2019 – OUP Glassdoor Account Manager
Hi there, thank you for your post it’s much appreciated. It’s great that you are enjoying the atmosphere here and agree that our people are one of our strengths. Thanks also for your thoughts on pay and progression. If you’d like to share anything more please do reach out to us at glassdoor@oup.com.
- Helpful (14)
"People who have escaped this hellscape call themselves "survivors" for a reason"
- Work/Life Balance★★★★★
- Culture & Values★★★★★
- Career Opportunities★★★★★
- Compensation and Benefits★★★★★
- Senior Management★★★★★
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookDisapproves of CEOI have been working at Oxford University Press full-time for more than 3 years
Pros
There is, indeed, an ok coffee shop. Pat yourself on the back, everything else is collapsing but there's a coffee shop! That picture of the dog saying "it's fine!" in a restaurant that's on fire comes to mind.
Cons
Where to start? The fact that some poor person in HR has been replying to all these dire (and accurate) reviews lately, parroting the party line, pretty much exemplifies the core issue. Nobody listens to us. The absolute, number one, cannot be avoided issue at OUP is that the pay is dreadful. It's not "competitive." It's barely a living wage. What really frustrates us as employees is the fact that this is never discussed. Every year there is a survey where we are asked what we'd like to get changed and pay is always the number one point. Management completely ignores this and will not even enter into a discussion about it. Similarly, the HR responses on this page ignore the pressing issue in every review: the low pay. This is exactly what it's like in real life. Art, or Glassdoor, imitates the real world. (Sorry, I know you, the person replying, are probably only an HR assistant doing what you're told, and that you probably agree with all the reviews anyway because at OUP, assistants do all the work for no recognition, no hope or promotion, and barely enough money to afford their groceries. Certainly not enough to live anywhere near Oxford.) If the pay were in line with the University, or indeed any other publisher, we'd be more forgiving about the terrible management, incommunicative seniors, lack of respect, workplace bullying, huge overwork problem and the fact that nobody ever listens to us. But if you pay peanuts and then close your ears whenever this is mentioned as possibly (!) the reason for the huge staff turnover, well...
Continue readingOxford University Press Response
April 5, 2018 – OUP Glassdoor Account Manager
We’re genuinely sorry to hear about your negative experiences at OUP. One of the main reasons for us responding to feedback on Glassdoor is so that we can get a greater understanding of people’s experiences at OUP – what we’re doing well, and where we can make future improvements. It’s so important that our people feel recognized for their work, and that they are respected and listened to, so your feedback is especially concerning. It’s also concerning that you have seen instances of workplace bullying. We have a zero tolerance policy around bullying, and would encourage you to report this confidentially to OUP@expolink.co.uk. We would really welcome the opportunity to speak to you in more detail about your feedback, and understand your specific experiences. Please do get in touch via glassdoor@oup.com.
- Helpful (8)
"Poorly managed, stuck in the past"
- Work/Life Balance★★★★★
- Culture & Values★★★★★
- Career Opportunities★★★★★
- Compensation and Benefits★★★★★
- Senior Management★★★★★
Doesn't RecommendNeutral OutlookNo Opinion of CEOI have been working at Oxford University Press full-time for more than 5 years
Pros
Nice office, good location. Great gym.
Cons
Low pay, poor management. Awful IT. Marketing a joke. Provide a sub standard across the board. Every change is another nail in the coffin. We are the pound world of academic publishing. Incompetent managers go unchallenged. Bullying tolerated.
Continue readingOxford University Press Response
March 16, 2018 – OUP Glassdoor Account Manager
We’re sorry to hear about your experiences. We’re particularly concerned to see your comments about bullying, for which we have a zero-tolerance policy. If you would like to share your concerns about this confidentially, please email OUP@expolink.co.uk. To share further feedback about any other aspects of your review, please get in touch with us via glassdoor@oup.com.
- Helpful (7)
"A failing company"
- Work/Life Balance★★★★★
- Culture & Values★★★★★
- Career Opportunities★★★★★
- Compensation and Benefits★★★★★
- Senior Management★★★★★
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookI worked at Oxford University Press full-time for more than 8 years
Pros
Great colleagues Some flexibility in hours Pleasant location Interesting work
Cons
Awful management culture No career progress opportunities Old-fashioned technology Pay/hiring freezes Blame culture Treating employees as expendable Very low pay for the area Out-of-touch upper management Bullying not dealt with Unpaid overtime to deal with crazy workloads Reduction in benefits (pensions etc) Frequent redundancies Outsourcing of critical functions to overseas contractors
Continue reading - Helpful (2)
"Technical Manager"
- Work/Life Balance★★★★★
- Culture & Values★★★★★
- Career Opportunities★★★★★
- Compensation and Benefits★★★★★
- Senior Management★★★★★
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookNo Opinion of CEOI have been working at Oxford University Press full-time for more than 3 years
Pros
Easy work. Low pressure. Decent benefits. People are nice.
Cons
Technology is woefully behind as are processes. Most of the technical team have only worked at OUP so have no outside references or experience. Very unwilling to try new things, Still hosting email locally so the recent hot days shut down email for several days. Not moving to the cloud is just one example of how far behind OUP is as far as technology goes. Very low pay - well below market rates. No career opportunity to learn new technology.
Continue reading "Great people, hampered by bureaucracy and mediocre management"
- Work/Life Balance★★★★★
- Culture & Values★★★★★
- Career Opportunities★★★★★
- Compensation and Benefits★★★★★
- Senior Management★★★★★
Doesn't RecommendNeutral OutlookNo Opinion of CEOI have been working at Oxford University Press
Pros
Great location, strong mission, strong digital products, good work life balance, and very talented hard working people on the ground.
Cons
Risk averse, uninspired management, low pay for hard work, process heavy, very top heavy management, very slow career growth.
Continue reading"Decent work, poor pay"
- Work/Life Balance★★★★★
- Culture & Values★★★★★
- Diversity & Inclusion★★★★★
- Career Opportunities★★★★★
- Compensation and Benefits★★★★★
- Senior Management★★★★★
RecommendsNeutral OutlookNo Opinion of CEOI worked at Oxford University Press full-time for more than a year
Pros
Good office, caring HR, good IT, free food!
Cons
Poor communication, low pay, high turnover
Oxford University Press Response
January 21, 2021 – OUP Glassdoor Account Manager
We’re grateful for your feedback, and would love to hear more about what we’re doing well, and where we can improve. If you want to share any further details, please email glassdoor@oup.com.
- Helpful (5)
"Entry-level publishing world job"
- Work/Life Balance★★★★★
- Culture & Values★★★★★
- Career Opportunities★★★★★
- Compensation and Benefits★★★★★
- Senior Management★★★★★
Neutral OutlookNo Opinion of CEOI worked at Oxford University Press full-time for more than 3 years
Pros
Prestigious company on resume and you meet interesting and smart people who work there. Many of my close friends were ones I met through work. Most of the assistants are fresh out of college and so all roughly the same age with similar life experiences. Lots of happy hours, birthday parties, etc. Other benefits are that the head of OUP USA does make himself available to anyone in the organization no matter their role, from intern to C-level. And the retirement account options are decent (with matching), but that's only a benefit if you can live on your take-home pay after contributing. I knew others that were so strapped for cash that they couldn't even contribute 1-2% to their own accounts, because they needed every bit of their miniscule take-home pay. I wasn't able to save much from my take-home salary but was at least able to start a retirement account with a decent chunk when I left. Better than nothing. Others who were from the Tri-state area and lived and home and commuted in might have been able to live on the salary, but many of us moved from several states away and had no choice but to pay for housing.
Cons
Very low pay, low morale, and high turnover. No training other than learn as you go/trial and error. They've recently raised the salaries from what I've heard but when I started in 2015 it was a non-negotiable $30k (and two weeks vacation, which management admitted was abysmal) for editorial assistants which is impossible to live on in NYC. Others a few years before me started at $28,500. In 2015 with a college (and sometimes graduate) degree. These were people who went to Ivy League schools with perfect GPAs. Maybe we're all suckers for accepting being paid that little. It's honestly shameful. But it's the reputation and prestige of the company that draws people in. It took YEARS to make even a few thousand more. As soon as I left OUP for a new job (also in the nonprofit publishing world, hmm) my salary doubled and my workload decreased. I couldn't believe I didn't leave sooner. Extremely limited promotion options were also why I left. If the only avenue for significant salary increases are tied to job title then you're better off leaving the organization to be paid more. I don't regret it as a good first job despite these cons, but I was grateful to leave when I did after a few years of paying my dues. Lack of overtime: I know people who worked for demanding editors and routinely stayed until 9 or 10 at night and never received a dime of overtime, even though legally, their salary was under the threshold that entitled them to overtime compensation. Editors were resistant to approve OT even though time and time again, HR and upper management told them to pay OT if their assistants stayed past 5. I don't know what the current status of OT is, but this was my experience a few years ago.
Continue readingOxford University Press Response
October 12, 2020 – OUP Glassdoor Account Manager
We really appreciate your taking the time to share such detailed feedback. One of the primary advantages of entry-level jobs in publishing is the opportunity to meet a lot of dynamic, interesting people, and it’s reassuring to know that this was your experience at OUP. That said, it’s obviously critically important that our colleagues feel rewarded and supported, both in their day-to-day work, and in their career progression. We have recently increased the entry-level salary in New York to $40,000, and have a number of ongoing initiatives in place to support career development. People *must* be paid for any overtime they work, full stop, and it’s important that we’re made aware of any instances of non-compliance so that we can address them. This is not a matter of policy or preference, it’s a matter of law. All OUP employees have a “Speak Up” app on their desktops which enables them to report any matters of concerns—whether regarding workplace culture, employee behavior, or unethical conduct of any kind—anonymously to an independent external agency, to ensure that everyone feels comfortable flagging any issues; any reports will be investigated. Please do email me directly (Ola.Ogunsanya@oup.com), or email our Glassdoor inbox – glassdoor@oup.com, with any additional details you might wish to share regarding your concerns about overtime. Best, Ola Ogunsanya, Regional Head of HR for the Americas
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August 2, 2019 – OUP Glassdoor Account Manager