Pros
The people I worked with directly were wonderful, and were always helpful and understanding. This job involves a lot of detailed and client-specific processes that take time to learn, and everyone was extremely patient and open to questions. I learned about the scholarly publishing industry, and had access to some interesting professional development to learn more. The benefits are also good, as is the PTO policy.
Cons
The pay is abysmal. In the US this year, with the state of the cost-of-living and inflation, it essentially felt like we made less because of how hard it is to live on this salary. There's really no excuse for it. I had coworkers with side hustles and second jobs, which should make the leadership at Wiley feel absolutely ashamed. I may have felt more inclined to stay at this job if I wasn't only dealing with my daily workload, but also the constant stress of being worried about buying groceries and being able to pay my bills. To add insult to injury, this year the usual performance-based raises were paused due to the "volatile economy." Multiple times while I was working at Wiley, well-respected colleagues tried to make the case to leadership to at least match the entry level salary to the local cost of living, but each time these concerns were brushed aside with vague platitudes while no action was taken. This year, Wiley invested heavily in AI and in a company rebrand, and it feels insulting to tell your employees that you can't afford to pay them a living wage while undertaking such costly projects on a public-facing level. The work itself was fine, although depending on the client, could be difficult on a customer-service level. An easygoing and kind client will make the life of your team much easier, but the reverse is also true and I have seen the stress it can cause in an already stressful job. EA work can get repetitive quickly. Opportunities for promotions are rarer than you're led to believe as an interviewee/new hire. We get a generous amount of PTO days for a US company, but at least in the PRPS division, you have to secure full coverage for all of your duties, which can make taking days off stressful. I often worried about adding to my coworker's workloads and making busy times like holidays even busier for those who aren't able to take the days off. One of the strengths of the company, when I joined, was the hybrid model (remote for some employees) and the flexibility it allowed. I enjoyed being able to work daily with colleagues from all across the country and the world, and that the type of work we did allowed for WFH to be an option. Unfortunately, earlier this year leadership announced (out of the blue and with little explanation) a return-to-office requirement for 3 days a week. This felt to me not only unnecessary but kind of hostile, especially because there was absolutely no justification for it, aside from wanting to improve "company culture." It did not, and I predict that people will only continue to leave, because my biggest takeaway from working at Wiley was that corporate leadership will do what they want with little regard for the impact it has on the majority of their employees. There are so many wonderful and talented people at Wiley, and I hope for their sake that it gets better. If not, I hope they can get out.