employer cover photo
employer logo
employer logo

Penguin Random House

Is this your company?

A good place to work - Recruiter Penguin Random House Employee Review

4.0
Aug 4, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Worked at Penguin for nearly 4 years, and was promoted twice in that time. I learned LOTS, had the opportunities to grow and get involved with exciting projects. The benefits are also top-notch. Equal parental leave policy, great wellbeing and sickness policies, healthcare cashback plan, cash bonus, discounts and of course, lots of lots of books.

Cons

Hierarchical nature of the business means it can take *months* to progress with projects as lots of people want to be involved. Pay and progression is a problem on the publishing side of the business. The business as a whole is also quite lean, so people are often very stretched and overworked. The office is beautiful, but very much in the middle of nowhere in Nine Elms. Nothing around it. Makes socialising difficult.

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