Does Refinery29 pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Refinery29 employees rate their compensation and benefits as 2.6 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Refinery29. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Refinery29?

40% of Refinery29 employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Refinery29 2.9 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.2 for culture and values and 2.5 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Refinery29?

Intern (9) , Software Engineer (6) , Internship (5) , Writer (5) , Editor (4) , Graphic Designer (4) , Intern - Hourly (4) , Production Assistant (4) , Editorial (3) , Producer (3) , Account Executive (2) , Account Manager (2) , Art Director (2) , Content Writer (2) , Creative Department (2)

What are the pros of working at Refinery29 according to real employee reviews?

"The people are creative and young" ((in 30 reviews)); "The coworkers were the best part of the job." ((in 12 reviews)); "Great culture and environment to work in." ((in 8 reviews)); "Beautiful office" ((in 7 reviews)); "free stuff, nice office, casual work environment" ((in 5 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Refinery29 according to real employee reviews?

"No work/life balance and no appreciation provided for hard work put in." ((in 12 reviews)); "low pay not in line with the industry or people's experience" ((in 9 reviews)); "Upper management is ignorant of the fact that employees have no work" ((in 8 reviews)); "Hours are long and personnel is under appreciated." ((in 7 reviews)); "Which leaves less capable managers in the middle level therefore further negatively affecting non" ((in 6 reviews))

What are employees saying about Refinery29 layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about Refinery29 layoffs and their outlook for job security at Refinery29 in 2026.

Refinery29 reviews

3.1

40% would recommend to a friend

(191 total reviews)

Philippe von Borries

35% approve of CEO

18% positive business outlook

Company ratings over time

Ratings trend for the last 6 months (191 reviews)

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Refinery29 has an employee rating of 3.1 out of 5 stars, based on 191 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Refinery29 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

191 reviews

3.0

Feb 16, 2017

Very Mission Driven

Anonymous employee

Recommend

Business Outlook

Pros

Lots of creative minds to inspire you, opportunities to learn new crafts and explore what you love, plenty of snacks/food vendors visiting/movie screenings/etc. (good culture), a company goal geared towards uplifting women

Cons

Occasional late nights (but free rides home/comped dinner). Seems to be a bit of a volatile company (unexpected layoffs all throughout the winter). Junior/mid levels work extremely hard and long hours for minimal pay (especially in NYC). No real opportunity to get promoted (as far as I could see). Inclusive, but only if you agree with their ideas.

5.0

Oct 1, 2016

Software Engineer

Software engineer

Recommend

Business Outlook

Pros

* Engineering team is very forward thinking. * Utilizing up-to-date technologies on both the front and backend. * Culture encourages learning and enhancing engineers' skill sets. * Employees are very open and transparent. You're always encouraged to ask questions and learn any part of the stack. * Work from home policy is very relaxed. * Company is growing and FAST. * Summers have free iced coffee, kombutcha, and you have half days on Friday. * Lots of fun events with free food and drinks. * Everyone is open to suggestions and you can easily have an affect on the tech stack even as a junior employee. * Friday all-hands meetings provides useful department updates, presentations, and Q&A with upper management.

Cons

* Portion of the site runs off a legacy codebase of which they're constantly working to deprecate

5.0

Jun 15, 2016

Manager

Anonymous employee

Recommend

Business Outlook

Pros

-Collaborative environment -powerful brand narrative- their mission to inspire the most powerful generation of women is really inspiring. Strong corporate culture. -Inspiring leaders and some of the smartest colleagues I've worked with - Creativity is encouraging

Cons

Nothing I love it here!

Viewing 76 - 78 of 191 Reviews

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