Change can be great, but not this time. - Anonymous employee Cengage Employee Review

2.0
Oct 28, 2012
Anonymous employee
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

Despite compounded hardships over the past two quarters, most of the people at CL are dedicated and hardworking, (if not as enthusiastic as they had been 2-3 years previously). The insurance benefits and 401k/matching programs are good, and there are multiple attempts by on-site events teams in each office to maintain a happier level of morale.

Cons

The executive leadership teams (both old and new) seem to be having difficulty accomplishing three things: 1) How to transform into a fully digital company in the 21st century 2) How to allocate existing resources and personnel to affect this transformation 3) How to communicate with employees Over the past 2-3 quarters in particular, CL has tried multiple reorganizations and title/department changes. Work from home/remote options have been cancelled with the rationale that productivity increases when people work together in the same room (note: CL has employees across the US in multiple time zones, as well as Canada, Australia, UK, etc.) They have conducted many meetings (with VPs and managers flying all around the country) to "discuss" these reorganizations where many words are spoken but no actual information is conveyed. They have also created several new managerial positions but no backfill to compensate for the rate of attrition and few opportunities if you are not already in management. The results at the daily grind level are more people leaving, projects/deliverables running late, customers not being contacted by sales/customer service, and low morale.

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5.0
Mar 28, 2026
Recommend
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Pros

Total rewards, time off, great people and culture

Cons

Lots of changes and uncertainty at times

3.0
Jun 4, 2026
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

Company has some interesting approaches to the market and in the past they seemed value employees. There are some good employees there and there was, in the past, visionary leadership, but the people with the vision and leadership skills left the company a few years ago.

Cons

The company actively de-values employees. They had a project they called "Project Horizon" where they told all employees they needed to cut costs, so the company was going to have multiple layoffs over 3-5 years - but nobody was allowed to know when, where, or why - - just one day large swaths of people would be gone. That hung over everyone's heads - for years, and is indicative of how Cengage values employees - it doesn't. Everything is about trying to secure new funding and prepare for an IPO, so they stopped investing significantly in the products about 3 years ago and that's about when they stopped acting like they cared about employee wellness as well.

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