Highly mediocre people who are legends in their own minds prevail. Very dirty politics. HR are yes men. - Anonymous employee Cengage Employee Review

2.0
Jan 1, 2011
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Excellent benefits. Good stepping stone and launch pad for younger professionals. Ability to experience how a spin-off functions when led primarily by consultants without management expertise or leadership ability.

Cons

Critical mass of underpaid women in the editorial ranks. Extremely political atmosphere where women who do a lot of male leaders' work are given titles and authority that they have neither earned or merit. Lots of double talk from top management.

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.

9
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