-Company is very siloed; inter-departmental rivalries are not just common, they are the rule rather than the exception. It's hard to get things done here unless you really reach across the aisle and make friends. Issues can go unresolved for years because of this.
-Very poor management - managers are all too often concerned with their own advancement and agenda rather than nurturing and retaining talent. There is no oversight of poor managers and how they treat their employees and as a result, Scholastic has a major case of brain drain, where talented employees are running, not walking, to better roles elsewhere.
-Little to no opportunities for advancement or promotion.
-Favoritism/cronyism is rampant here. If you're lucky enough to get a boss who likes and supports you, bully! If not, you're boned.
-Scholastic is loaded with "lifers," who have had just the one job there for their entire career, and "boomerangs," who perpetually leave and come back because they are ill-equipped to survive anywhere else. This leaves them blind to the evolving workplace and stuck in ruts that they cannot climb out of.
-Layoffs are common and happen with no notice - they literally liquidated an entire division in a month.
-The company is very cliquish - this happens in multiple departments and is more common with certain job types than others.
-The benefits keep getting more expensive for employees as Scholastic covers less every year.
-Comparatively, Scholastic pays around 30% less than what you should be actually earning in the real world. Know your value and negotiate if you can.
-The building is nice (they even have a youtube tour of it) but they are embarking on a two year renovation of the entire building which is turning everyone's work life upside-down. Scholastic is moving to an open office plan - if you've worked in one, you know that they are a disaster and make it very difficult to actually get work done without the aid of headphones. 95% of people who had offices will not have one after the construction is done. Some employees are being moved to an off-site building while others are being asked to stay and work in the building while it's under construction. The update is overdue but will be a huge distraction to the mostly hard-working rank and file.
