Cengage reviews

2.9

31% would recommend to a friend

(2,401 total reviews)
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Michael Hansen

39% approve of CEO

24% positive business outlook

Cengage has an employee rating of 2.9 out of 5 stars, based on 2,401 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Cengage employee rating is 22% below average for employers within the Mídia e comunicação industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

2K reviews
1.0
May 30, 2025

Dishonest Management

Anonymous employee
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

My colleagues are incredibly genuine and talented. Truly one of the best teams I’ve had the pleasure of working with in my career. The culture was strong when I first joined, but unfortunately, that’s no longer the case

Cons

The latest reviews are pretty accurate. The company has gone downhill since the new leadership took over following the investment. With the industry also in decline, the outlook for the next few years looks quite bleak

2.0
Mar 20, 2025

Getting Worse Every Day

Anonymous employee
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

At the individual contributor level, my colleagues are truly fantastic—caring, supportive, and passionate people who genuinely believe in the value of education. Working alongside them has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my experience here.

Cons

I've been with the company for 5 years and have lost count of how many reorgs have taken place. Recently, these changes have been made under the banner of "simplicity" with little explanation or tangible improvement. On the tech side, most software engineering has been offshored, resulting in a noticeable decline in quality: more bugs, rolling back releases, implementation not as designed. If you're located within 25 miles of an office, expect to be required to commute just to spend your day on virtual calls. This policy is framed as "team building," but in my nearly 20 year career, it has been one of the most alienating in-office experiences I've ever had. If diversity, equity, and inclusion are important to you, it's worth noting that the Director of DEI&B was recently let go. Given that previous directors have also had short tenures (usually less than 18 months), it raises questions about the company's genuine commitment to these values. Lastly, voicing concerns in all-hands meetings often results in leadership dismissing or contradicting the feedback based on their own differing experiences, which can feel dismissive and disheartening.

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Cengage Response
1y
I hear you. I do not take lightly the changes that we have gone through over the last year. I am, however, proud of the way we have transformed our business in the last decade to ensure we are able to invest in the business and meet the needs of customers. I am proud of the nearly 7M students we have helped save $920M on course materials with Cengage Unlimited and I am proud of the more than 250,000 individuals we help upskill and reskill in the workforce each year. I am proud of the tens of millions of students in more than 100 countries we have helped to learn English and start on a path to achieve their dreams. To achieve these things has meant we have to closely examine how we do business so we can best serve our customers. In terms of work arrangements, we are committed to embracing approaches that allow our teams to thrive. Our leaders have been observing teams, experimenting with different models, and adapting as needed to set their teams up for success. We have learned that face-to-face interaction is invaluable in certain areas, such as building trust among team members and onboarding new employees. I encourage you to speak with your manager about your experience as we continue to experiment, adapt, and evolve our approach, it is important to have feedback from employees on the model. Regarding the Director of DEIB position, we remain committed to embedding inclusive and fair practices into our policies, as well as supporting and enabling our employee resource groups. This work is not the responsibility of one person; it is everyone's responsibility. Please feel free to reach out to me directly with any further concerns or ideas on how we can improve. Best, Michael Hansen, CEO
2.0
Nov 30, 2024

Private Equity ruined company

Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

Loved working here for years. Smart and talented coworkers; opportunities to learn new skills

Cons

Zero job security. Priority is on documenting your job for “efficiency” but is used to determine whether you can be replaced by cheaper non-US labor. Run by private equity with seemingly no direction or purpose other than to increase their profits. Outsourcing all US resources to increase revenue - emphasis on time tracking (every minute of your day in JIRA) managers do not care about real work but only about this time tracking and completing documents used to determine whether they can replace you with overseas resources meanwhile overworked and stressed beyond belief. Give folks bad performance reviews to “quiet fire” them to not pay severance.

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Cengage Response
1y
Thank you for sharing your feedback. I understand that recent changes within the company may have created some uncertainty. I do disagree with some of your sentiments here. First, our investors strongly support our company strategy and direction and have an acute understanding of our business and the education space more broadly. Secondly, we all have a responsibility as a for-profit business to run the business in a way that is impactful to our customers and operates as efficiently as possible. As a result of this, we need to continuously look for ways to improve the business, and we need data to do this. I want to emphasize this data is always based on evaluating the outcomes of people’s work, not time spent. I am saddened to hear this has not been your experience or view, and encourage you to speak with your manager to better understand how your work is evaluated. We value the feedback of our employees, and each year, we conduct an engagement survey to gather insights and make improvements to enhance the employee experience. I appreciate your input, and I encourage you to reach out to me directly with any suggestions on how we can continue to improve. Best, Michael Hansen, CEO
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