Struggling to make the digital transition - Anonymous employee Cengage Employee Review

3.0
Apr 17, 2013
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great people on the technology side who know how to deliver the next generation educational technology products. The teams I worked with have a lot of heart and camaraderie. Some of the senior management I worked with/for was great, and I always personally received a lot of support from them.

Cons

I apologize that this review might be a bit delayed. I left this company last summer to take on a new opportunity. I wasn't actively looking, so I was somewhat satisfied with my role. That being said, when I was there, Cengage struggled a lot with obsolete processes, systems and databases. I could feel senior management wanting to make that leap, but I think they were not equipped to do so. They need a bit of a refresh to get together the right strategy.

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5.0
Mar 28, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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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.

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