HarperCollins reviews

3.5

58% would recommend to a friend

(448 total reviews)
avatar

Brian Murray

66% approve of CEO

48% positive business outlook

HarperCollins has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 448 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The HarperCollins employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Mídia e comunicação industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

448 reviews
1.0
Mar 6, 2021

A Corporate Chernobyl

Anonymous employee
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

Free books. An abusive, hazing-type atmosphere leads to a lot of close friendships.

Cons

Where to start? The atmosphere is incredibly toxic; members of senior management frequently gossip about each other and their assistants. This is probably due to the fact that everyone is working constantly; I've never seen such a collection of dysfunctional people desperately trying to find meaning in life through work. This place is a lawsuit waiting to happen. Unpaid overtime is required for promotion, regardless of whether one is legally entitled to pay. I was told this explicitly during a performance review. After years of excellent reviews, it counted against me that I dared to admit I was struggling with my work load after it was drastically increased. HR is aware that this happens, by the way. They turn a blind eye because the company loves its cheap labor. The union is powerless. The worst part is that while I worked here I thought it was normal to be told I was not doing enough, even when working 50-60 hour weeks. Normal being told not to ask for a raise or promotion because that could hurt my relationship with my bosses. Normal to be accused of not being dedicated enough to my job. Please, save yourself the time and effort. You deserve better than this.

2.0
Feb 2, 2021

Enables Toxic Work Environments While Refusing to Respect Employees

Anonymous employee
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

Unionized, lots of talented employees with a passion for the industry, the ability to maintain work/life balance.

Cons

This was by far the most toxic work environment I have ever worked in. While it varies by department and imprint, HR and leadership demonstrate a great deal of hostility towards their own employees and it was commonplace for basic requests for accommodation to be met with resistance. Adequate tech was not consistently provided across departments during the pandemic, and there were constant attempts at union-busting by HR. As an employee at HarperCollins I worked on several popular titles that made a great deal of profit for the company - absolutely none of that work was recognized in my salary or the way I was treated as an employee. Several employees are in management positions despite showing no interest in providing training, leadership, or basic kindness towards their junior staff. Little to no action taken to making HarperCollins a more diverse and inclusive company, and was the LAST major publisher in the US to raise salary minimums despite having the funds to put a 2 billion dollar bid on Simon and Schuster.

3.0
Mar 10, 2017

Needs better commitment to employees

Anonymous employee
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

-Beautiful office -Free books -Mentorship program in editorial -Summer Fridays -Great tech and office support Many people here are some of the kindest and hardest working people I've ever met. People genuinely care about putting well-written, diverse titles out into the world.

Cons

-Seriously low pay. There's no room to negotiate, ever. You get the raise you get, and it is extremely minimal. If you try to negotiate, you're essentially told you're lucky to have the job you do. -There is so much turnover, we keep losing great talent to other publishers because they pay better, offer better benefits, and have a more diverse workforce -We don't get the week between Christmas and New Years off like most other publishing companies -No way of providing feedback to managers during reviews

Viewing 16 - 18 of 448 Reviews

Glassdoor has 611 HarperCollins reviews submitted anonymously by HarperCollins employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if HarperCollins is right for you.