Pros
People are pretty nice. Good holiday schedule.
Cons
If you are considering taking a position with Cengage, you should know that the company is merging with its primary rival, McGraw Hill, in early 2020. Both companies have been in revenue decline for several years, and CEO Michael Hansen has announced he expects $300 million in savings as a result of the merger. He has also made comments that the 2 companies have too many offices -- especially in the midwest (his words). It doesn't take an MBA to realize that the merger is going to result in massive layoffs in 2020. McGraw and Cengage virtually mirror each other in the market, and the new company will not need duplicated sales, marketing, editorial, IT, HR, legal, etc. staffs. They're also not going to want to pay for 10-12 office/warehouse locations between the two entities (there are maybe 200 employees in the Farmington Hills office). Also consider that both companies have been owned by private equity owners who are eager to get out of there investments which are declining in value. They have a short window to shine up the balance sheets and make the company look profitable, and will be ruthless in drastically reducing the workforce and shedding unwanted assets in order to show a short term profit. The company that remains after they are done slashing is not one I want to be working at. A lot of people around here seem to be in complete denial about what is going to happen, which is strange but understandable given the shock, I suppose. The good thing is we have until next year to polish up our resumes and look for new jobs before the axes start swinging. Once the deal is finalized it is going to get very ugly very quickly.
