Does CERN pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, CERN employees rate their compensation and benefits as 4.3 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at CERN. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at CERN?

91% of CERN employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated CERN 4.4 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.5 for culture and values and 3.7 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at CERN?

Technical Student (125) , Software Engineer (111) , Fellow (61) , PhD Student (35) , Senior Fellow (24) , Doctoral Student (23) , Research Fellow (23) , Internship (22) , Junior Fellow (19) , Mechanical Engineer (19) , Postdoctoral Fellow (19) , Engineer (18) , Project Associate (18) , Intern (16) , Administrative Student (15)

What are the pros of working at CERN according to real employee reviews?

"Good salary (free of income tax)" ((in 133 reviews)); "Best experience ever Great people" ((in 84 reviews)); "Amazing environment and great colleagues." ((in 56 reviews)); "Good benefits for CERN contracts" ((in 50 reviews)); "they was very helpful and pay was good" ((in 32 reviews))

What are the cons of working at CERN according to real employee reviews?

"Bad management, nothing else fdgdfgdf" ((in 39 reviews)); "No career progression; no teleworking outside of the region" ((in 17 reviews)); "For scientists, almost exclusively temporary contracts and almost no career opportunities inside or outside CERN." ((in 14 reviews)); "Incredible nepotism everywhere." ((in 7 reviews)); "Old buildings with no AC" ((in 6 reviews))

CERN reviews

Compare reviews

4.4

91% would recommend to a friend

(855 total reviews)

Fabiola Gianotti

91% approve of CEO

59% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

4.5

Culture & values

4.5

Diversity & inclusion

4.4

Work/Life balance

4.3

Compensation and benefits

3.9

Senior management

3.7

Career opportunities

CERN has an employee rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars, based on 855 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The CERN employee rating is 21% above average for employers within the Regierung & öffentliche Verwaltung industry (3.6 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

855 reviews

5.0

Feb 3, 2016

Technical Student

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

- personal development - great positve people, fantastic atmosphere - working among professional engineers and scientists - possibility of attending on different courses

Cons

In my opinion CERN is a fantastic place to start professional career - I do not see any cons

CERN Response

10y

Thank you very much for your review. It is with great pleasure that we read that you have enjoyed and appreciated to this degree your time spent at CERN. Wishing you the best on your next steps.

5.0

Jan 26, 2016

Controls Engineer

Controls engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Good salary, flexibility, interesting job.

Cons

Living away from home. Temporal place.

CERN Response

10y

Thank you for your review. We understand that for our multicultural set of employees working away from their home can be a rather challenging situation. In order to face this issue we provide our members of personnel with home leave and take care of the travel expenses to their home countries to help them maintain their ties with their families and close ones

4.0

Dec 14, 2015

Working @CERN

Administrative assistant

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Amazing Organisation, international environment where you learn and share every day with great people. It's a real pleasure to come to work every day where new challenges are waiting for you ! this is the place to improve your skills.

Cons

unfortunately CERN cannot keep everybody but give experience and increase your knowledge for a new job.

CERN Response

10y

Thank you for your review. We are delighted to hear you have been enjoying your work at CERN and we are very appreciative of the time you spent to write this positive review.

Viewing 781 - 783 of 855 Reviews

Top companies for "Compensation and Benefits" near you

UNDP

3.7★Compensation & Benefits

United Nations

3.9★Compensation & Benefits

U.S. Department of State

3.8★Compensation & Benefits

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit

3.8★Compensation & Benefits

Jobs at CERN

Short Term Internship 2026

Genf

View job

Junior Marketing Communications Officer (IPT-KT-MC-2026-148-GRAE)

Library Cataloguer (OSI-SIS-AL-2026-146-GRAE)

Talent Acquisition Officer (HR-TA-2026-57-GRAE)

HSE Communications Support Officer (HSE-TS-2026-153-GRAE)

CERN

CERN reviews

Ratings by category

Ratings by demographic groups

Reviews by job title

Technical Student

Controls Engineer

Working @CERN

Top companies for "Compensation and Benefits" near you

Jobs at CERN

CERN reviews FAQs

Want the inside scoop on your own company?

Bowls

Followed companies

Job searches

Top companies for "Compensation and Benefits" near you

CERN reviews FAQs

Jobs at CERN