Roller coaster experience - Anonymous employee Cengage Employee Review

2.0
22 Nov 2015
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

New products coming out that seem promising and innovative. Research is thoroughly conducted at the user-level for these products. There is good content (texts in print/digital) as part of the company's current portfolio.

Cons

Knee-jerk reactions and implementation of programs and initiatives that have mixed messages and confusing directives with poor return,rather than well-thought out truly strategic initiatives. Significant turnover in the sales organization that negatively impacts the longer sales cycle. Disconnect with executive management and those executing on the front lines. Inconsistent advancement, not necessarily performance-based, more on who you know. Over the past couple of years there have been significant technology issues. Recently the company has begun to outsource jobs overseas (accounting, IT), there is uncertainty as to what's next.

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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