Soulless, heartless, broke(n) - Anonymous employee Cengage Employee Review

1.0
15 June 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Still fully remote, no more offices. Great people who are dedicated to the work.

Cons

Nearly everything else. This company has carried out mass layoffs relentlessly, month after month and year after year, including loyal 10-30 year employees that they replace for half the price if at all. Loyalty here means nothing; the company has made it clear they don’t care about you. They won’t invest in your growth (though they’ll put on a show that they do). They won’t fix deep, systemic issues with morale (though they’ll act like they’re addressing them). Advancement here has nothing to do with talent or results. It’s all about obedience theater, parroting leaderships corporate nonsense, and showing public loyalty at the all costs (including your dignity.) 90% of your time at this company will be spent on managing or participating in office politics, the other 10% is maybe doing your job if you’re lucky. In reality, it seems like they’re deliberately pushing people out, likely to avoid paying severance and to refill or outsource positions at a fraction of the cost. Employee moral is at an all time low, though leadership likes to pretend otherwise and look the other way. They will pays lip service to autonomy and empowerment, but in practice micromanages every minor detail while also belittling their people. They pretend to be inventive, announcing half-baked initiatives handed down with no real thought behind them, while expecting employees to treat these directives as gospel though there is zero thought put into actual execution. The result is that everything is half-assed, rushed, and outsourced at twice the expense for half the quality, all on the backs of the remaining full-time employees. You won’t be valued as a professional; you’ll simply be a life raft for leadership and the private equity firm in their pursuit of an IPO.

Explore other reviews about Cengage

5.0
28 Mar 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Total rewards, time off, great people and culture

Cons

Lots of changes and uncertainty at times

3.0
4 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Company has some interesting approaches to the market and in the past they seemed value employees. There are some good employees there and there was, in the past, visionary leadership, but the people with the vision and leadership skills left the company a few years ago.

Cons

The company actively de-values employees. They had a project they called "Project Horizon" where they told all employees they needed to cut costs, so the company was going to have multiple layoffs over 3-5 years - but nobody was allowed to know when, where, or why - - just one day large swaths of people would be gone. That hung over everyone's heads - for years, and is indicative of how Cengage values employees - it doesn't. Everything is about trying to secure new funding and prepare for an IPO, so they stopped investing significantly in the products about 3 years ago and that's about when they stopped acting like they cared about employee wellness as well.

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