All Over the Map - Assistant Editor Cengage Employee Review

3.0
Jul 28, 2014
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

Many smart, dedicated colleagues who want to make a positive contribution to learning. Good benefits.

Cons

Senior leadership are spin masters, some messaging is contrived and not sincere. Favoritism is rampant - promotions are held because of budget problems. Some managers adhere to policies while others get away with way too much. CEO talks about accountability but doesn't hold all senior leaders to some basic behaviors of decency. Respect for employees is not always apparent. Workloads are all over the map -- some people work crazy long hours (expected to be available during vacation) while others barely have enough work to do to fill their days. (so they stretch the work to look busy). CEO is an elitist who doesn't value the "common" worker who actually does the work and cares about students.

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Cengage Response
11y
I regret that you’ve had this experience. I would like to see us recognized as a meritocracy, where the best and brightest have opportunities to grow their careers, in a frank and open environment. Our pace of change can leave anyone (at any level of the organization) feeling off-balance or even undervalued some days. I agree that sometimes there can be a disconnect between what we’re trying to accomplish and how it is being put in practice at various levels. We’re continually strategizing on how to bridge this gap, and how to drive the desired culture further into the organization. However, each and every employee has the responsibility to contribute to this effort as well. You can do so by making your suggestions for improvement to your manager. We are making headway, but it’s a work in progress. Thanks.

Explore other reviews about Cengage

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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