Penguin Group Reviews

Pros

Vacation time
Halloween party
Atmosphere of books
Summer hours

Cons

very low pay initially
Bad location

Pros

A good place to get a foot in the door, strong house with great titles, feels like both a big and little company.

Cons

Very difficult to advance by staying in house - promotions and raises do not correlate with the workload of the employees

Advice to Senior Management

Foster a sense of personal growth for employees and also focus on the work being done instead of personal politics.

Pros

Books, Fabulous name, Comfortable Atmosphere, Got to attend some great launch events. Meeting big name editors and authors. Overall a comfortable place to work.

Cons

As an intern, I went from building to building (Young Readers is a building down a block). Coworkers complained a lot about poor pay. I didn't hear a lot about how I was doing. I had 3 supervisors

Advice to Senior Management

If you cannot pay your employees decently, compromise with company paid insurance, more time-off or other perks. Don't give interns meaningless work to do. I did more mailings than I can count.

Pros

Management avoided layoffs during 2008 depression.

Management is addressing new-media challenges, and being smart about it.

Opportunity to work on fine books with first-rate authors and editors.

Highly intelligent, experienced, and talented, and friendly colleagues.

Civilized and respectful environment with very little backbiting or sniping.

Good health benefits, generous personal and sick-day allowance for salaried employees, a lot of employee discount/membership perks.

Able to purchase company stock at 15% discount. New employees are automatically enrolled in 401k; company matches 4.5% of contributions.

Free books everywhere!!

Cons

Industry salaries are uniformly low, but entry-level salaries are SO low that we lose talent.

Raises generally do not match the cost of living. No bonuses that I know of, except for upper management, and occasional discretionary corporate-wide bonuses ($500-600).

Young staff hasn't a clue about how to manage their 401k investments.

Management frequently rolls out new software and workflow procedures that can make working more, not less, difficult.

At the same time, important, industry-wide software is often outdated. When software is finally updated, staff is expected to train themselves online while still maintaining workloads and deadlines.

In editorial/production, unrelenting increases in workloads, with higher percentages of books on brutally tight deadlines. New imprints, but no new staff hires in years.

Not too fond of the open-floor cubicle-pens and bright overhead lighting: no privacy at all, voices carry. No place to take a private phone call, such as a callback from a physician.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay for entry-level talent.

Make sure that new in-house software and workflow intended to save money and increase efficiency are truly helpful instead of making work even more difficult. Ask and LISTEN to the end-users, not just the proponents creators who don't actually have to work with their innovations.

Recognize that staff is willing to work with new methods, but only if the new methods don't make their jobs even more difficult. Try not to impose yet another new procedure every 3-6 months.

A lot of energy spent on in-house workflow improvements might be better directed to addressing new media, and updating and training employees in industry-wide software that will help merge traditional print and electronic media.

When adding imprints, hire new support staff instead of piling more tasks on already overburdened staff, which is stressed to the breaking point.

Thanks for keeping us employed during the 2008 depression. Much appreciated.

Pros

Lots of room and encouragement of creativity and a casual work environment.

Cons

low paying industry and takes a long time to get higher pay

Pros

team work, good comp, promotion

Cons

lots of work, hard parking, requires more managers

Advice to Senior Management

keep up the good work

Pros

it definetely is a great company to work at. Lots of nice people. huge, as it has multiple floors and you can get lost.

Cons

As nice as it is, if you are not into books, this is not the place to be. Can get quite boring at times because of lack of challenges.

Advice to Senior Management

Thanks for doing what was necessary to keep everyone employed - no layoffs. Keep up the good work. We appreciate the fact that you care deeply about the workers.

Pros

Penguin has a good reputation and a lot of talented editors, so there are opportunities to work on interesting/high profile projects and the quality of work is high. Editorial staff here learn a lot and make important contacts. Depending on your immediate supervisor the atmosphere is relaxed and the benefits are good.

Cons

Many of Penguin's practices are antiquated - even for the generally old-fashioned publishing industry - and instead of helping productivity end up creating busy work. Promotions are slow in coming and happen haphazardly. Many editors are frustrated by publisher and management decisions, but there is no way to communicate dissatisfaction or problems within departments to higher level supervisors. There is constant pressure to publish "commercial" projects and to steer away from "literary" titles, and you can expect to work late or on the weekends a few times a month.

Advice to Senior Management

Penguin has an elaborate performance evaluation system in place, but it only works from the top down. Problems with mid-level management often go unnoticed by those in a position to address problems. Adding peer reviews or 360 degree reviews - bottom to top reviews - would be useful in at least increasing communication within the company.

Pros

Penguin Group is a congenial, creative, and fun place to work. With over 75 years in the business and offices located all over the world, they obviously know how to run a great business and keep their employees happy. Penguin is owned by Pearson Education, the largest educational publisher in the world, so there is plenty of opportunity to explore different facets of trade, educational, and online publishing if you find yourself stagnated in one particular area.

Cons

Compensation is very, very low. You may need to take on freelance work to make ends meet (I do). Bonuses are not offered to employees.

Advice to Senior Management

We're having a great year...consider a bonus that's actually meaningful to employees (which means, not a couple thousand at Christmastime, but an actual percentage of our salaries).

Pros

Young, smart, and fun company. The employees are very open to helping each other out and the atmosphere is generally laid back. Tons of free books!

Cons

Compensation is really low, but comparable to the industry. Work at times can get a bit monotonous.

Advice to Senior Management

Allow lower level employees to to have more responsibilities and pay them more.