Since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, Cengage has spoken a great deal about employee health, both physical and mental, and offered support via counseling services, time off. However, the executive team last summer announced a period of 12-18 months of refocus and reorganization that would involve difficult layoffs. Since then, the majority of employees have been living with worry, uncertainty and anguish. Layoffs are hitting good employees hard, with another 6-10 months to come of uncertainty and fear as more employees are let go despite the company's financial situation being healthy. We used to be an education company, then an edtech company, and now we do not know what we are. Concerns for quality in our products seem to have taken a backseat to the drive to cut costs and in all likelihood, get the company looking good for a sale in the future.
The mental health of employees has been treated so cavalierly with these warnings of significant impending cuts over a long stretch of time. Morale is at an all-time low and the joy of the work we do is decimated. We no longer even know what our jobs are.
The executive team will oversee a sale, get their bonuses and walk away to new roles elsewhere. Those of us living on far lower salaries and no bonuses will have to put our pride of working for an education company aside and search for work elsewhere.
But we are told it's all in the name of progress, of moving ahead.
