Cengage reviews

On one hand, the company seems to be heading in a great, exciting, new, and innovative direction. On the other, upper management seems unable to let go of "control" and returns to old corporate ways of thinking such as a recent reprimand about flexible work hours. They work so hard to understand today's current student but haven't given a look at today's current workplace/happy employee. Lately they seem obsessed with "people in seats" from 9 to 5, versus when and where the real work is getting done.

First, it's in a horrible location in South Boston! There's almost nothing around and no one ever knows how to get there. No cohesion within units. Cengage was made from a lot of mergers with smaller publishers and everyone has their own practices and rules. They're trying to create a brand name but no one in the industry knows who Cengage is. So much debt! They're in a lot of debt and they keep throwing away money on products that fail instead of giving money to the departments and products that deserve it. The pay is dismal. "Raises" are less than 2% and have only occurred once in the three years I worked there. Managers justify the low salary while simultaneously throwing away money on lavish dinners, conferences, and trips. Higher management punishes anyone who doesn't follow the "seen but not heard" rule. If you speak up, you become an outcast. They want people who are too afraid too ask for better pay or benefits or change in the office. Higher management wants to be worshiped and labels anyone who comes up with a unique idea of legitimate criticism as a troublemaker. HR is no help since the moment you come to them for advice, they're running off to tattle to the managers. It's a very poisonous environment. In the past year they've had THREE reorgs and have laid off a large number of people. There's supposedly a hiring freeze, yet they created nice cushy middle management positions and keep hiring top level positions. There's very little room for advancement at the bottom levels and they outright tell you that you have to stay there for 5 to 10 years before you can move beyond entry level and make a livable wage....as long as you kiss up to the managers. Right now there are so many open positions and when I left, most employees were doing the jobs of two or three people for no extra pay. If you worked overtime, forget about getting money! If you complained about the workload, watch out or people are going to start saying that you're a troublemaker. The company had potential years ago when the industry was good but it's all gone downhill and it's become a den of snakes. The previous CEO was decent, but the new one, Hansen, has been worse and worse. In the past few months he's fired a lot of longtime employees in order to bring in his friends from his previous company. Other managers have begun to do the same. This might be an okay place if you're looking to get a year or two of publishing experience, but it's not a place to make a career unless you enjoy being treated poorly.