Do you really want to work for a company that files bankrupcty? - No and here is why. - Editorial Director Cengage Employee Review

1.0
Nov 15, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The health insurance and 8 paid weeks maternity leave.

Cons

The majority of the senior level management team are Caucasian and males. Any minorities in upper management are paid $1000s less regardless of the education. (I am not allowed to reveal the exact office, but most are in the South.) Special favor is held for those females the men find attractive and those females are rewarded with jobs for which they are not qualified. Many people with college degrees and more experience in their fields were passed over for jobs because of a strong culture of dishonesty from human resources. The company continues to fail because the people are unhappy and unfulfilled. Typically they prefer to put the women they find work in mediocre management positions so they can fulfill their equal opportunity requirements. For those of you in shock by these statements, review the Cengage learning org chart from some of their southern offices and you would be shocked at the obvious lines drawn. When asked why the culture was not as “mixed” in their offices as they were in the warehouse…HR responded “we only have to have 2.7 minorities for every 100. HR tends to use fear to drive employees out they do not want to pay a severance to. Bankruptcy and corruption are no surprise when it comes to Cengage Learning.

Explore other reviews about Cengage

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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