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Penguin Random House

Is this your company?

Best publisher, but worst ageism in the world - Business Analyst Penguin Random House Employee Review

3.0
17 Oct 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-Good experience to be gained and looks good on the resume to be working at the largest publisher in the game. -Free books and generous benefits/PTO (notice how I don't say compensation). -Remote work is fully embraced. -Work/Life balance is encouraged. - DEI team is one of the best I've ever seen.

Cons

- You are expected to wear many hats that can be outside your pay grade and scope of work. They essentially make you work 3 roles for the price of 1. It creates this sick cycle of taking on more work in hope that you get promoted (you won't). -Compensation is very low and not competitive. You can make at least 60% more doing the same/similar thing in another industry at the entry level. Yes, you read that right. The entry-level in other industries pays more than the mid-senior level for a similar position. Especially if you are non-publishing side (i.e. business/tech). -Growth opportunities are limited and the process for promotion is not transparent. Performance reviews are not taken seriously and management will play games with your head. The only way to get a significant promotion/raise is if you leverage an outside offer. Asked for 3 years straight and no budge. Once I got an outside offer, money and an opportunity for promotion pops up out of thin air. -Reverse ageism. No matter how good you are, you will not be respected as a junior. If you do great work, you'll get compliments, but no promotion/raise. During performance reviews, those compliments become downplayed and they will act as if the work was not significant. -Lifers at the company who have been doing the same thing for 10-20+ years. Resistant to automation and will gatekeep their work for the sake of job security. This is a blocker for many projects and limits operational improvements, potential revenue, and growth opportunities for junior employees. -Management structure has a rigid hierarchy and doesn't take juniors seriously.

Explore other reviews about Penguin Random House

5.0
20 June 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
20 May 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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