Houghton Mifflin Harcourt – “Sinking Ship”

Pros

Houghton and Harcourt represent some of the best and brightest in trade publishing. Up until a year ago, both of these companies were highly respected and had well-deserved reputations for publishing quality trade books. It's a joy to work with smart people who genuinely care about the products they create. We are in this business because we love books. Benefits and vacation are slowly being eroded but are still competitive with similar companies. There's lots of freedom and flexibility in my job. Location can't be beat.

Cons

Where do I start? It's clear that we are on a sinking ship, and no one with decision-making power seems to care about the effect this has on the people working here. Our staff has been cut so deeply that we cannot possibly do our jobs effectively. Nothing is worse for an over-achiever who loves his work than being told you cannot do a good job no matter how hard you work. Morale is rock bottom. Productivity is suffering. We all know the end is near, but we are kept guessing about when and how it will come. Miserable!!

Advice to Senior Management

Just tell us what you're doing. Respect us enough to give us the information we need to do our jobs and/or move on. Keeping us in the dark just makes us believe you are all knuckleheads.