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Penguin Random House

Is this your company?

Compensation, HR, and management issues - Senior Designer Penguin Random House Employee Review

1.0
Nov 6, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Non-management employees are gems. People who make books are genuinely smart, thoughtful, and empathetic people. I loved my coworkers immensely.

Cons

In my experience at PRH, the company has three massive issues: 1. Compensation is far too low. PRH's junior to senior salaries are so non-competitive that they make living in NYC much more challenging than it should be. I had two creative directors say to our group, and I quote, "If you don't like the pay, you can always leave." Profit sharing was nearly non-existent, and below-inflation yearly pay raises were labeled as things we were "lucky" to have. 2. HR is oddly weak. They generally ignore most employee issues, siding with management in near-total lockstep. While I know HR is for the benefit of the company, not the worker, at PRH they take this to a almost worker-hostile level. I reported a number of serious infractions by management that were ignored—items that affected general morale and employee mental health. 3. Management at PRH is generally under-qualified and needs more training. Most had trouble navigating benign misunderstandings and conflict. Management doesn't use conflict as learning opportunities, instead they push for outcomes that mostly involve punishment and appeasement. Employees were kept in line for fear of losing their job, not because they genuinely learned from mistakes or misunderstandings.

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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