Mendeley Moving Into “Exciting” New Offices in London With Many New Employees

We just posted about negotiations between university’s in the Netherlands and Elsevier coming to a halt. Of course, issues regarding Elsevier are nothing new in the library community.
Nevertheless, the company decided today (of all days) to press release the fact that Mendeley (an Elsevier company since 2013) is moving into new offices in London.
That alone is not a story, the company has nearly doubled in size in the past year but the fact that the news release calls out all sorts of special features the new office will provide workers with is both poorly timed and a slap in the face to customers who pay big money for access.
From the News Release:

Mendeley will be moving to Resolution Property’s Alphabeta development in Shoreditch, where it has taken a 10-year lease on a 19,000 sq ft office in London’s Tech City. Mendeley had 40 employees when the Company was acquired in April 2013, and expects to triple that number by the end of 2015.
With special features including a digital user testing facilities as well as Tech City workspace staples such as yoga room, basketball court and a ramp that allows cyclists to ride directly into the building, Alphabeta has been designed to enable agile working practices for the Company’s expanding software development teams. It reflects Mendeley’s changing needs as it continues to innovate and recruit new employees.

If this is the best place for Mendeley’s new office fine (that’s a decision for company execs and shareholders) but for a company with a longtime image problem it might be best to not call these out so customers, in particular, library customers, can grow more aggravated.
Bottom line: More fuel for the fire.
Read the Complete Elsevier Announcement

Filed under: Elsevier, Libraries, News