Cengage Associate Technical Content Developer reviews

3.7

56% would recommend to a friend

(21 total reviews)
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Michael Hansen

59% approve of CEO

56% positive business outlook

Associate Technical Content Developer employees have rated Cengage with 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 21 company reviews on Glassdoor. This indicates that most Associate Technical Content Developer professionals have a good working experience there. Cengage is rated in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) by Associate Technical Content Developer professionals compared to other employers within the Mídia e comunicação industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

21 reviews
2.0
Aug 8, 2024
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

The people make the company. Great colleagues that are open to helping others. ERGs are great.

Cons

At least 3 mass layoffs in a year. Some of these layoffs have affected the same teams each time. Content Creation is being heavily outsourced and the Content Manager role has significantly changed causing little to no opportunity for growth professionally and financially. Very small raises. They will give you more work than what is within your job description, but will not reward you by increasing compensation. Changes taking place throughout the company are not helping the company create the best product. They are trying to make the most money possible with the lowest quality produced which wasn't what I signed up for when applying. No longer a remote first company.

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Cengage Response
1y
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. I am glad to hear that you enjoyed your colleagues, and our employee resource groups positively impacted your experience.  Regarding layoffs, as we evolve our strategy to meet the needs of the education market, we routinely evaluate our approaches to ensure we are able to be competitive; that sometimes results in difficult decisions about colleagues and teams. Our company remains virtual-first, allowing individual teams to determine what format works best for them. For some groups, this means experimenting with a hybrid work model, but many remain virtual-first. We will continue to experiment across our teams to ensure effective collaboration and performance. We do recognize the need for employees to have time to reset and recharge, which is why we offer a wellness week – providing employees a full week off at the end of the year, in addition to their vacation time and two floating holidays. Regarding our approach to pay, our merit increases are also in line with the market and our HR teams continually monitor pay to make sure we remain competitive.  I wish you the best in your next endeavors, Michael Hansen, CEO 
2.0
May 21, 2024
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

The people you used to work with.

Cons

Micromanagement by managers justifying their jobs, moving everything offshore while piling on work of the people that remain, top-heavy with many directors, and directors of directors. As long as you are friends or family you are treated well.

1.0
Jan 28, 2024
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

Cengage employs some of the most talented and dedicated -- and intelligent -- people I've ever worked with. I've worked on several different discipline teams and never encountered anyone who does not pitch in when asked -- or volunteer even before being asked. The discourse is always lively, the ideas amazing. Employees are the biggest pro. Until last year, the culture was incomparable, and the mission of the company was clear. We all respected and were proud to work for CEO Michael Hansen until an about-face in mission last year that seems aimed at readying the company for sale.

Cons

Since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, Cengage has spoken a great deal about employee health, both physical and mental, and offered support via counseling services, time off. However, the executive team last summer announced a period of 12-18 months of refocus and reorganization that would involve difficult layoffs. Since then, the majority of employees have been living with worry, uncertainty and anguish. Layoffs are hitting good employees hard, with another 6-10 months to come of uncertainty and fear as more employees are let go despite the company's financial situation being healthy. We used to be an education company, then an edtech company, and now we do not know what we are. Concerns for quality in our products seem to have taken a backseat to the drive to cut costs and in all likelihood, get the company looking good for a sale in the future. The mental health of employees has been treated so cavalierly with these warnings of significant impending cuts over a long stretch of time. Morale is at an all-time low and the joy of the work we do is decimated. We no longer even know what our jobs are. The executive team will oversee a sale, get their bonuses and walk away to new roles elsewhere. Those of us living on far lower salaries and no bonuses will have to put our pride of working for an education company aside and search for work elsewhere. But we are told it's all in the name of progress, of moving ahead.

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Cengage Response
2y
Thank you for your review and for your more than 10 years of service. I appreciate the positive remarks about your talented and dedicated co-workers – I agree and have experienced the same in working with individuals across the organization. I understand that change can bring feelings of uncertainty. I strongly feel that transparency about our evolution as a company, and why we are making these changes, are important to ensuring employees feel invested in our business strategy and success. I know this transparency can sometimes contribute to those feelings of uncertainty, but I am saddened to hear you feel like the vision of what we do is no longer clear. I’m proud of the work we have done to better meet the needs of learners and educators. Together, we’ve evolved into a leading global edtech company that is now more than 70% digital, continues to gain market share from competitors and that has tenure amongst our leadership team that is envied by many competitors. Best, Michael Hansen, CEO
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