Penguin Random House reviews

It's not a good place to be at the bottom of the totem pole. The pay is pitifully low, the standards are incredibly high (you will be working late with no overtime pay regularly), and it is difficult to move up. Zero transparency from the executives, who care more about saving their necks in a fizzling industry than the people who work for them.

The big problem with Penguin Random House is that it is a very loyal company. It is not uncommon for people to stay with the company for their entire careers–20, 30, 40 years. While many of these dedicated employees are amazing at their jobs and are the driving force behind the success of the company, many in senior leadership are poor leaders and frankly incompetent. They are there only because they have played the politics correctly. Overall loyalty has led to an overly political, petty, and negative atmosphere–think high school. I should note that there are many divisions within the company, all with different cultures and while this politically charged, negative is present in all of them it is especially toxic in corporate where I worked. During my time there I saw high up executives do some pretty sketchy stuff(falsifying data, manipulating budget numbers, etc.) in order to justify building up their teams and increasing their budget. This is not what you want to see in an already struggling industry.