Things turned sour as bankruptcy approached; hope restructuring will revitalize it - Director Cengage Employee Review

2.0
Sep 18, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

dedicated employees with long tenure who are good at what they do. Culture is a bit old school though that is changing quickly, however it is still a personal touch environment.

Cons

Employees at all levels were very hierarchical and owned their work, sharing and collaboration were not embraced to any degree. Company struggled because of switch to digital and that mentality of old print vs digital workers existed up through bankruptcy.

Explore other reviews about Cengage

3.0
Jun 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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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