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Penguin Random House

Is this your company?

Good work if you can get it - Sales Coordinator Penguin Random House Employee Review

4.0
Oct 17, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

PRH is the biggest publisher, so you take the good of massive size with the bad. For publishing, the entry level pay and benefits are good. Working from home during the pandemic was well-supported and the company never made us feel like we had to choose our jobs over our health. The big benefit for readers is access to the interior library of books and manuscripts.

Cons

It's easy to get overlooked in such a big company, if you don't have a good supportive manager. There's a definite change in culture among management and upper management, who don't know or have forgotten what it is like to live in small apartments in the city while they tend to live outside the city - during the pandemic it seemed they weren't aware that while managers often had home offices, lower level employees would quite possibly have to work from atop their beds in studio apartments. The company is also overwhelmingly white and diversity initiatives move painfully slow, and company culture is quick to offer kudos for any small steps but hesitant to recognize missteps. Its also easy to feel left out of the loop if you don't like going for drinks.

Explore other reviews about Penguin Random House

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.

5.0
May 20, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great writing, Top tier production

Cons

The male director never asked me once how I was doing or offer any advice to calm my nerves (on my first production ever with them) which lead to a burdensome recording process.

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