Badly Managed Mess with Little Hope for Recovery - Anonymous employee Cengage Employee Review

1.0
Sep 19, 2013
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

A paycheck. Insurance. An occasional feeling of being needed but constantly reminded that the future was bleak.

Cons

Constant changes in direction, inability to make the simplest of decisions, bad communication, terrible requirements documents written in unintelligible language. No documentation or training on systems as "management wasn't comfortable with that", Seemed to realize they were headed towards bankruptcy so willing to squeeze employees for everything they could get. A sweatshop with intelligence using Agile as a way to physically and mentally harm employees.

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5.0
Mar 28, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Total rewards, time off, great people and culture

Cons

Lots of changes and uncertainty at times

1.0
Jul 13, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The individuals below the management level are good people, with some good people at management but C-Suite is horrible.

Cons

C-Suite hides their plans under corporate speak. Cengage was a family owned private company and they sold and ever since then has had, debt, schemes to shuffle and restructure debt while implementing RIFs after RIFs after RIFs...never ending and amazingly has been in increased this last year. From their actions it's outsource as much as you can of company operations and squeeze value from Intellectual Property. Look how many times they've renamed themselves. They had a CTO join for about a month or two until she realized it was a role with no team, no authority and left. The CEO is amazing at spin, you hear "great, great, great" corporate speak as the reality on the ground is "this failed, that failed..what!? they're gone!...what they moved that department offshore!...what!? that department is now a vendor relationship...oh we're not DEI focused because the wind changed". The trend is contraction not expansion, no ground breaking innovation. My jaded view from college on expensive books has only grew since I see how the sausage is made.

5
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