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Penguin Random House

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Penguin Random House reviews

3.9

75% would recommend to a friend

(1,188 total reviews)
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Nihar Malaviya

87% approve of CEO

73% positive business outlook

Penguin Random House has an employee rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars, based on 1,188 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Penguin Random House employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Audiovisual y medios de comunicación industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

1K reviews
2.0
Jul 20, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Decent benefits, especially vacation time if you can get in Full-Time. If you love books, PRH is the greatest in the game. The best authors, the biggest books. For aspiring publishing professionals, this is the dream. You'll never work on better books anywhere else in your career. Many employees form lasting, lifelong friendships here.

Cons

The company preys on your passion for books and the industry and exploits it to make you feel like you need to stay and that you have no other options. Most entry level employees are on three-month contracts that renew perpetually for years, but offer no benefits, vacation, or sick days. Career development opportunities are nonexistent. Raises small, few and far between. Promotions often long overdue. Many junior and mid-level employees have resigned in the last year because they can't keep waiting around for a minuscule pay bump and a pat on the back when they could take an entry level job in another industry and make 2x as much money. Expect to work evenings, weekends, early mornings and late nights, get emails expecting replies in the middle of the night. No overtime, no lieu time, no reimbursement for mobile costs or home internet even if you're working on your own time and device. HR is a laughingstock. Lip service is paid in big townhall meetings to diversity and employee mental health/work life balance but nothing is ever done. It doesn't appear that managers whose employees report mental health concerns or take stress leave are ever evaluated on whether or not they are fit to lead a team. Clique-y upper management closes ranks and fearful middle managers aren't empowered to stand up for their employees.

2.0
Mar 27, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

A large team of genuinely interesting people to work with in a convenient central London location. Free books on the pulp shelf. Cafe& Gym in basement.

Cons

Senior management is so distanced from the rest of the staff. "Them & Us" mentality, bad communication from above, and low morale among staff. Pressure is piled on and praise non existent. Everyone is stressed and tensions run high. Pay is rubbish, because IMO they coast both on their name and employing lots of nice girls with private incomes who want to work in publishing as a sort of hobby. Yearly salary increases are lower than the rate of inflation (but if you have a partner who is a surgeon, or in banking, or in anything with a decent salary as a lot of staff do, it doesn't matter does it?), and raises in my experience only ever given if offered a job elsewhere. Flexible working hours refused for single parents. Union representation ignored by HR. (And recently the CEO publicly acknowledged in the press that they would by-pass the union when making upcoming post-merger redundancies). Unpaid overtime and late nighters are expected as standard and time in lieu is rarely given. Staff are expected to take up the slack when staff leave and are not replaced. My job responsibilities and job creep grew and grew in a decade there, & in appraisals I would get upbraided for my admin failings, yet was employed as a designer to a team with an admin assistant... never employed on the basis of my XL spreadsheet skills. I wasn't granted flexible working hours despite other members of my own team having it. In the end I realised that I was never going to get out what I was putting in and have gone freelance. (And I never get work from them)

2.0
Jan 8, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

1. The products are great - it's fun to work with books 2. You get a lot of free books 3. You get to meet authors 4. Looks good on your CV

Cons

1. Low Salaries. 2. No opportunities for progression within 3. People in senior positions have been there for many decades & make it difficult to innovate. 4. Company culture doesn't reflect the brand. 5 Diversity in hiring is very very poor. Hardly any POCs in editorial roles.

Viewing 7 - 9 of 1,188 Reviews

Glassdoor has 1,550 Penguin Random House reviews submitted anonymously by Penguin Random House employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Penguin Random House is right for you.