Pros
The non-managers are wonderful people - hardworking, dedicated, and talented. Decent benefits. The purpose of creating research and reference products to aid learning and education is inspiring and enjoyable. There is a cafeteria on site with breakfast and lunch options.
Cons
There used to be some really great middle managers, but they have all been chased away, fired without cause, or retired. They were replaced with yes men who play politics, but were often unqualified. If you're not in the good ol' boys club, you're nobody - no matter how conscientious, hard working, knowledgeable, and productive you are. The HR department is extremely unethical and operates with blatant double standards. Some of the promotions in my last year were appallingly absurd in terms of how unqualified the person was and how many requirements they didn't meet. And yet people who excelled at their job but didn't play politics could never get even to the first round of interviews for promotion opportunities when they had all the qualifications and then some. Promotions heavily favored men, even though women outnumbered men in the workplace. It was cronyism at its finest. I worked at Gale for over eight years before leaving. This used to be an amazing place to work, and I was very proud to work there and of the work I did. It was a really fun and positive work environment when I started, but when I left earlier this year, morale was abysmal and everyone was constantly scared of losing their job through another reorganization. People would be let go with secrecy so that if you were in another department or even just on another team in the same department, you often only realized people had been fired when you hadn't seen them for a few weeks. It was truly heartbreaking to realize just how far the company had fallen, how toxic it had become, how few of the managers and VPs I respected were still there, and how hypocritical and incompetent the current middle and upper management was. I like the CEO and respect him - I wish that he would create a brand new leadership team for Gale along the lines of the one he has created for Cengage. Gale would be in a much better place if the current VPs, most middle managers, and basically all of the sales and HR management were replaced, preferably with innovative executives who demand accountability and ethics. And if these new executives listen to the people on the phones day in and day out with their customers rather than ignore them to try the same old things that have failed time and again, why then Gale just might have a chance to be successful again.