Lots of back patting, no employee investment - Editorial Refinery29 Employee Review

3.0
Dec 31, 2013
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

Amazingly free environment, creativity in bounds, and fun social perks. Really great internal community and lots going on. Generally, your supervisor directly above you cares a lot about your personal growth.

Cons

The vision of Refinery29 is a "throw something at the wall until it sticks" mentality, which means they talk a lot about a "vision" but the practice is whatever is working that day. Expect high school-level back dealing, and employees to "disappear" without notice or warning or a peep from upper management. Also, a yearly raise is kind of a joke.

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5.0
May 27, 2026
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

Great culture, extremely nice employees, diverse workplace

Cons

Not very cutting edge with their approach to tech

4.0
Mar 23, 2026
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

Refinery29 was training day, every day. The pace and creative expectations forced you to sharpen fast. I cut my teeth here over four years and came out a fundamentally better strategist. The work was culturally plugged in, the people were sharp, and you were trusted with real responsibility early. If you wanted to learn how brand, content, and audience intersect at speed, there was no better place.

Cons

The intensity that makes it a great training ground also means the environment runs hot. Not everyone thrives in that — and depending on your team, support structures varied. The company went through a lot of change during my time, which created some instability.

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