Cengage reviews

3.0

34% would recommend to a friend

(2,397 total reviews)
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Michael Hansen

43% approve of CEO

27% positive business outlook

Cengage has an employee rating of 3.0 out of 5 stars, based on 2,397 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Cengage employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Mídia e comunicação industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

2K reviews
2.0
Mar 30, 2013

House of Cards

Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

Increasing opportunity throughout my career to collaborate with various teams and to be involved in dynamic projects. Good benefits, amazing co-workers, and flexibility from my management to balance work and family life have been the best.

Cons

Company culture, morale, and working knowledge among the employee base has deteriorated over the last 2 years as teams have been realigned multiple times between the traditional text and digital development . Executives increasingly promote internal consultant-types and utilize external firms, grasping at straws to develop "strategy" and create short-term results without understanding the impact to workflows. Unfortunately, the executives have no regard and don't address the additional band-width needed by IT, accounting, etc., to support "strategic" initiatives and the increasing requirements. In fear for their own jobs, managers won't mention this to upper management and expect their teams to "step-up" and incorporate requirements into their objectives "seamlessly" without additional band-width, compensation, or system support.

2.0
Mar 27, 2013
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

Once upon a time, this company felt like a large family. There was a spirit of community, sharing of resources and market knowledge, going boldly where others feared to tread (without punishment should the experiment fail). The various imprints were well determined and recognized as leaders in their respective disciplines. There are (inexplicably) still some amazingly creative and dedicated people still working here.

Cons

The avalanche began just as soon as the new name (inspirational? I think not) was launched, and new management took their seats. Cengage is hardly the center of engagement, rather it is the center of chaos. There is no longer any brand recognition other than the fact that Cengage's texts cost significantly more than the competitors'. We were (of course) told to tell our customers that it's not really about price, but about superior content, superior service, superior teaching and learning tools. None of these elements truly exist, and the customers know it. The lack of focus, bi-monthly (often monthly) changes in direction, absurd accountability goals (I mean absurd, not aggressive), and no unifying digital story has turned what was once a really fabulous place into a mud pit. Morale is terrible, lay offs have been swift, extensive and come with no warning, and adding price increases every season is such a blind move--it's absolutely clear that upper management either doesn't care about the employees who work long hours through the work week as well as weekends so as to keep up with endless minutia, and/or is only concerned about their 6-figure salaries and bonuses. Too bad. What was once a lot of fun turned out to be "just another job".

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