employer cover photo
employer logo
employer logo

Penguin Random House

Is this your company?

Great place to work, hard place to move up and earn more money - Anonymous employee Penguin Random House Employee Review

4.0
Feb 12, 2014
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

People are great, asking for time off is never an issue, so much vacation time, great 401k benefits. The culture is relaxed and creative. Definitely a great place to start working fresh out of college.

Cons

Great vacation time but you can't afford to go anywhere. Paying rent gets harder every year. It's impossible to get promoted unless someone leaves. It's hard to get the more senior people who have been working in publishing forever to change. After a few years, good entry level employees always leave, and sometimes the wrong people are promoted.

Explore other reviews about Penguin Random House

5.0
Jun 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

super friendly work environment, very understanding, very fun

Cons

in consumer marketing department, a large number of people work remotely

5.0
Jun 20, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

• Caring people. Psychological safety is emphasized by people at every level. I feel like leadership at each step of the reporting chain is very approachable and transparent. • Great work/life balance. • There is a lot of openness to trying new technologies or doing different things for such a large and established organization. There is very little "trend chasing," it's more like you're listened to. As the CEO started out as a technologist, he has a realistic view of what new tools (including, but not just, AI) can do for us. • Informal, especially for a company created by the merger of two nearly-100 year old publishing firms and was recently acquired by a nearly-200 year old company. • Company supports learning and development. • Free books! • I care greatly about the company's mission and it's clear how my work impacts the company's ability to execute on it. • Things often move slowly, which is both a pro and a con.

Cons

• Pay and insurance are very average, but I can live with that. This is a much bigger con for employees whose jobs require them to be on-site, especially in e.g. London and New York. • Said learning and development seem to have a ...deliberate pace. While this is fine and what I wanted, other tech people coming in from more "tech-y" organizations mightn't gel with it. • Things often move slowly, which is both a pro and a con.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All