A great company to work for, except for the pay - Anonymous employee Cengage Employee Review

4.0
17 Feb 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Our CEO, Michael Hansen is outstanding. He has a clear vision on where we need to be going as a company and is a great communicator. I am very proud working at this company and have seen it transform over the years from truly a print based business to an ed tech company. We are changing the lives of people in a great way and we can be proud of what we are accomplishing on a daily basis. Most people I work with are very intelligent. Our office in San Francisco is new, fresh and beautiful. It is an extremely collaborative and open environment.

Cons

The pay in the San Francisco office is not competitive with the tech industry in the Silicon Valley (though upper management says it is), and frankly you can't live on the salary unless you live with a partner/family/roomate, etc. Many of us stay because we love what we do, however when you have to live paycheck to paycheck, it becomes very stressful. If we are a technology first company, then we need to pay technology rates, even if your specific role is not "tech" related. The yearly raises are extremely minimal. Promotions are very hard to come by as well. Also, I understand the the whole "doing more with less" mantra. It is common all over the US and it does make sense to streamline. However, there is only so many people you can cut back in a department and still uphold the same level of work and service. It makes for a lot of disgruntled people, doing the job of 2-3 people and getting paid below rate for it. You have to pay for parking.

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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