Cengage Learning Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Cengage Learning full-time

Pros – Flexible Time, love the people I work with, fair benefits

Cons – Management is poor favoritism exist in this company
The pay is low

Advice to Senior Management – Teach your leads and supervisor some leadership skills

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Cengage Learning full-time for less than a year

Pros – Great place to work for, my management team really cares about the employees. There is a lot of talent in the company and they seem to be improving on the transition into the digital arena.

Cons – Inefficient workflows, unorganized and untrained sales staff that makes things difficult for the people supporting the products. there are a lot of departments/positions that have lack of accountability that makes it more difficult to properly support.

Advice to Senior Management – Transparency- make sure that all different "parts" of the company are able to communicate. There is a large amount of separation between departments, and even within departments between teams.
Talent- There are so many talented employees that I work with. However, Cengage is not very proficient at utilizing their employees talents. They "pigeon hole" employees and do not let the progress within the company.
Training- The training program for new hires and continual training leaves a lot to be desired. Half of the training team dont know the products that they are training the Agents on. There needs to be a better training department in the company to ensure the best products and service for the customers. Without proper training, you are setting yourself up for failure.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Cengage Learning full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Flexible schedule allowed you to work your territory like a small business owner. You used to be able to see the benefit of hours of hard work.

Cons – Constant change in price structure undermined customer relationships. Lack of price transparency will continue to lose business as competitors cease on this weakness.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Cengage Learning full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Great people on the technology side who know how to deliver the next generation educational technology products. The teams I worked with have a lot of heart and camaraderie. Some of the senior management I worked with/for was great, and I always personally received a lot of support from them.

Cons – I apologize that this review might be a bit delayed. I left this company last summer to take on a new opportunity. I wasn't actively looking, so I was somewhat satisfied with my role.

That being said, when I was there, Cengage struggled a lot with obsolete processes, systems and databases. I could feel senior management wanting to make that leap, but I think they were not equipped to do so. They need a bit of a refresh to get together the right strategy.

Advice to Senior Management – Hire people who know modern methods to product development and business strategy who can provide insight to senior- and executive-level management.

As you're transitioning, don't forget to stay at the pulse of the customer. This is a smart long-term growth strategy and will solidify your brand. The sales and customer support teams have a wealth of information about the customers that isn't captured and should be involved in the product development strategy. Leverage your Sales and Customer Support data. It is VERY useful.

Hire smart data scientists, who can do deep dives into the product and can help you personalize the customer experience. They are what you need to get ahead of the competition.

Former Employee – worked at Cengage Learning as an intern for less than a year

Pros – In general, there is a good atmosphere. People are helpful and take ownership of their work, and until corporate restructuring was on the horizon, it wasn't competitive.

Cons – Departments have the tendency to become isolated from other related groups, and there are communication break-downs that can cause issues.

Advice to Senior Management – Recognize the strengths in all of the products you offer, not just the ones that generate the most revenue or have had the most money invested into them.

Former Employee – worked at Cengage Learning full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – It used to be the people and the support of the former management

Cons – Close to 300 talented, hard working and loyal employees in sales, sales management and editorial, were laid off within the last year alone. (Interestingly enough, one of the persons in the video below was also laid off.) Influx of executives hired from Pearson who are bringing in their teams/recruits. Company trying to turn into a mini-Pearson. Sorry, but it's too little too late.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop continuing to reorganize without giving it time. Do you actually think getting rid of long time employees in favor of younger, cheaper Pearson recruits is going to get you out of bankruptcy? What you are doing is simply a placeholder before the inevitable takeover happens. By the way, one of the persons in the video below, was also recently given his walking papers, so you may want to remove or update that video as it now seems tainted; just like this company.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Cengage Learning full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Cengage has a very flexable work hours and work at home policy.

Cons – Typically there is no path for advancement or promotion unless you're "in the network". Its not very fun place to work, it use to be fun but that has changed, since the company has been bought by Apax.

Advice to Senior Management – I would advise manage ment to start looking at the tallent they have in house and use that effectivly

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Cengage Learning full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Once upon a time, this company felt like a large family. There was a spirit of community, sharing of resources and market knowledge, going boldly where others feared to tread (without punishment should the experiment fail). The various imprints were well determined and recognized as leaders in their respective disciplines. There are (inexplicably) still some amazingly creative and dedicated people still working here.

Cons – The avalanche began just as soon as the new name (inspirational? I think not) was launched, and new management took their seats. Cengage is hardly the center of engagement, rather it is the center of chaos. There is no longer any brand recognition other than the fact that Cengage's texts cost significantly more than the competitors'. We were (of course) told to tell our customers that it's not really about price, but about superior content, superior service, superior teaching and learning tools. None of these elements truly exist, and the customers know it.
The lack of focus, bi-monthly (often monthly) changes in direction, absurd accountability goals (I mean absurd, not aggressive), and no unifying digital story has turned what was once a really fabulous place into a mud pit. Morale is terrible, lay offs have been swift, extensive and come with no warning, and adding price increases every season is such a blind move--it's absolutely clear that upper management either doesn't care about the employees who work long hours through the work week as well as weekends so as to keep up with endless minutia, and/or is only concerned about their 6-figure salaries and bonuses.
Too bad. What was once a lot of fun turned out to be "just another job".

Advice to Senior Management – Move over and let another team pick up the scraps and start all over again. Everyone knows this place is a mess--not only current and former employees, but customers and the media.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Cengage Learning full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – There are few smart and talented people left but I don't know why the stay there.

Cons – My review got rejected most likely because people didn't want to see the harsh truth I wrote. Too bad Cengage doesn't want to learn from its mistakes, very typical. Hopefully this one doesn't get rejected as well.

Here's a summary of what I wrote earlier:
1. Most of HR isn't any good. They follow procedure instead of think of ways to improve things for employees.
2. Editorial is a mess. They have constant power plays and backstab each because of those folks don't know how to transition from a digital company. They are afraid of becoming irrelevant.
3. They can't keep top talent. Too many talented software engineers, ux designers, and data analysts have left for companies that probably appreciate them and pay them almost twice as much.
4. VPs and directors play useless numbers games, that actually don't help the business in the end.
5. A traditional publishing company that wants to go digital, but they continue promoting people who have NO idea how to be digital.
6. Compensation is too low, about 20-30% below market, depending on the job.
7. Not modern at all in every aspect: marketing, sales, technology, editorial.

Cengage will die off if it continues to refuse learning from its mistakes.

Advice to Senior Management – You are too top heavy. Instead of keeping and promoting people based on tenure,

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Cengage Learning full-time

Pros – The people that were here and have since left or let go were fantastic. The people that are still here are pretty darn good. The work schedule used to be flexible, this is becoming less so. Creating great content was easy, now there's another hoop to jump through. Who knows what's going to happen day to day?

Cons – 2 Re-Orgs within a year, going on 3.
Company is owned by a private equity firm, and hinging on bankruptcy.
Incestuous upper management fires current management to bring in old Cronies.
Terrifically bad communication.
Ineffective technology, inefficient workflows, unrealistic expectations.

Advice to Senior Management – Please, if you want to be efficient, get a DAM in place now.
If you want to be effective in the marketplace and breed loyalty with your employees, open the doors for *ALL* teams to make better products. Not just the chosen few.
Give flexible work environments. Allow teams enough budget to create a positive atmosphere. With the way you're treating people now, don't be surprised when they leave.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company