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Penguin Random House

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Great place to start a career but better to leave if you want growth - L&D Coordinator Penguin Random House Employee Review

4.0
Oct 19, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- excellent benefits - encouraging teams - one of the best corporate cultures, they really want to invest in your development - one of the best learning teams that tries their best to help everyone as much as possible - great place to learn a lot of on the job skills - even at entry level there are a lot of opportunities to pitch in creative ideas and challenge yourself. - you can easily be a big fish in a small pond and pick up a lot of stretch projects - Creative environment - constantly learning from others - people willing to work together - wonderful work life balance - Great place if you want to launch your career, leave for other opportunities to move up faster + better salary, then maybe be a boomerang and come back.

Cons

- they can be a little spiteful when you leave the company, I never got a proper exit interview and know other colleagues with the same problem - they take advantage of your time but do not recognize or hint upward mobility. I personally felt something extreme had to happen in order to move up. -salaries could be better..... - it is great place to grab a lot of experience and take it somewhere else unless you are die hard publishing. Otherwise you will be overqualified for your role especially when you are in a small team.

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.

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