Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Reviews

Pros

The people who actually know publishing
The brand that is almost screwed up by a leadership team that knows nothing about publishing indsutry

Cons

No leadership
Senior management is ego-driven and only cares in the bottom line
Radical dilution of product
All process, no real results

Advice to Senior Management

Educating children is not the same as making widgets. Pay your debts and hope someone can buy you out.

Pros

I've been lucky with my peers and management (up to CIO level) over the years.
I've had 5 immediate managers who have all treated me as I deserved.
My colleagues and management are probably the best part about the job.
The work schedule is fairly flexible as long as the assigned tasks get completed.
Work from home is not frowned upon.
Certain management is willing to provide training

Cons

Poor communication by senior management
The direction of the company is hardly definable (except, of course, cut costs to increase profits)
Working in IT, there's always fear, uncertainty, and doubt that your job may not be there one month from now, and will be transferred to a managed services provider
The pay is hardly at the market level
Not everyone in management is willing to provide training

Pros

The quality of the workforce is second to none. The brand holds cachet and recognition with customer base.

Cons

The marketplace is in great flux and senior mgmt is making a new push to enter new markets. This transition has been bumpy, cumbersome and the results so far are not in. This has created some uneasiness in the organization that is commonplace within the market as a whole.

Advice to Senior Management

Bring back some of the human capital that was let go during the financial woes the Company suffered in '08 & '09.

Pros

Since they have been laying off all my lovely coworkers, there are few.
Casual dress code? But since the salaries are so low, they could hardly require workers to dress well.

Cons

Schedules are set by project managers who have never done the job of those they manage, and don't even understand the job, so they cannot comprehend why everyone is so rushed and is so overworked. To get the schedules done, one has to work weekends and evenings and the management never acknowledges this.
Very poor vertical and lateral communication. Everyone has their little fiefdom that they guard jealously.
Insane time-tracking down to the minute through two different time systems that are not compatible.
Upper management does not seem to track industry trends, resulting in products that seem outdated and out of touch with today's web-based book consumption and education.

Advice to Senior Management

Management should realise that morale is low because employees are overworked and underpaid and the schedules forced on them are unreasonable. High employee turnover, problems with press runs, excessive and expensive changes to copy and covers at late dates are ultimately the result of poor management, not worker carelessness.

Pros

Great people, authors, and a great name in publishing.

Cons

Management struggling not because of their style but more so due to the nature the business is headed.

Pros

The people are friendly, supportive, and knowledgeable. They are a diverse group of dedicated employees who work hard to support each other.

Cons

Some of the benefits could be more competitive. Health care costs are expensive. Luring and retaining top talent might prove difficult.

Advice to Senior Management

Consider upgrading the benefits package to lure and retain the best and most dedicated professionals to keep the company thriving.

Pros

Flexibility, good work / life balance,

Cons

poor benefits, no raises, low pay and stinky commission plan

Advice to Senior Management

Everyone is trying to cover their own ass instead of being open and honest with one another. And non of the reps have a clue as to what's going on..oh yeah, and new management has even less of a clue.

Pros

Excellent environment that allows for work/life balance
Very smart people with visionary ideas
Great opportunities to learn/grow professionally
Pay raises, bonuses, and 401K match have all come back (small for now, but when I consider that many of my friends have not had a raise/bonus in 6 years, I'm grateful).

Cons

I think many of the comments on this site may be more a result of location or specific team. I've been working here for 5 years, and have yet to see many of the things mentioned on this site. The company definitely had its struggles during the bad economy and mergers, but I've seen a world of improvement in the last 2 years.

Pros

The company is mature and stable (which is also its challenge). The culture is generally quite collegial. Location is great and the opportunities interesting because the industry is in such a state of change.

Cons

Poor communication: up, down and lateral
Major changes required: are they too inert to adapt?

Advice to Senior Management

Outsource the innovation process: it's very difficult at this or any other large company to think creatively and constructively outside the box. Spawn 1-3 design/development skunk works organizations, as independent but connected subsidiaries.
Listen more to the market and to customers!

Pros

the ability to telecommute and the colleagues we work with

Cons

communication is low, no raises in 3 years