Is Cengage a good company to work for?

Cengage has an overall rating of 2.8 out of 5, based on over 2,611 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has decreased by 17% over the last 12 months. 29% of employees would recommend working at Cengage to a friend and 23% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about Cengage have been left by employees working as Senior Learning Consultant , Digital Success Specialist and Customer Success Manager .

Does Cengage pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Cengage employees rate their compensation and benefits as 2.7 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Cengage. This rating has decreased by 13% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Cengage?

29% of Cengage employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Cengage 3.4 out of 5 for work life balance, 2.7 for culture and values and 2.3 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Cengage?

Learning Consultant (77) , Account Executive (62) , Sales Representative (56) , Manager (42) , Product Manager (36) , Project Manager (30) , Sales Consultant (30) , Sales (29) , Product Assistant (28) , Customer Service Representative (26) , Director (23) , Software Engineer (23) , Content Developer (19) , Account Manager (18) , Marketing (18)

What are the pros of working at Cengage according to real employee reviews?

"There are some great people at Cengage and the open work environment is collaborative and fast paced." ((in 317 reviews)); "Good benefits and easy onboarding" ((in 192 reviews)); "Work life balance is great" ((in 127 reviews)); "Colleagues are great and genuinely care." ((in 83 reviews)); "Great team to work with." ((in 66 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Cengage according to real employee reviews?

"Increasingly low pay for sales..little chance for advancement unless you are part of the "in crowd"" ((in 111 reviews)); "poor management of employees" ((in 106 reviews)); "Salary is low unless you produce and reach upper bonus tiers." ((in 72 reviews)); "Upper management is always reorganizing." ((in 71 reviews)); "Constant layoffs every two years and irrespective of how much significance you are to the team you might be laid off" ((in 67 reviews))

What are employees saying about Cengage layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about Cengage layoffs and their outlook for job security at Cengage in 2026.

What are the top reviewed Cengage locations?

Boston , Farmington Hills , Independence , Mason , San Francisco , Clifton Park , Cincinnati , Temecula , Raleigh , Chicago , New York , Belmont , Detroit , Los Angeles , Dallas , Albany , Madison , Florence , Washington , Houston , Atlanta , Richmond , Charlotte , San Diego , Louisville , Nashville , Seattle , Orlando , Remote , Birmingham

Cengage reviews

Appearance of a Great Place to Work but Not Reality - Anonymous employee Cengage Employee Review

2.0

Sep 7, 2023

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

- The employees at Cengage are some of the best of the best and they deserve more than what this company can offer. There is a real sense of community and belonging among many of the employees. - The CEO is very transparent. Maybe too transparent even basically telling employees there will be lots of change and layoffs soon. He was really great at connecting with employees, but seems to have lost touch a bit more recently. - Benefits are really good. Lots of vacation time, company holidays, sick time and wellness days. Healthcare, 401K and parental leave all seem pretty solid for todays market. - Ability to work from home is great. Leadership has put a big emphasis on continuing with remote work and it works well at this company. Although remote, you still feel very connected and most people are respectful of work from home privileges. - Good work life balance depending on role you are in. Most managers are pretty easy going as far as managing your own work load.

Cons

- The market is really tough. Although, leadership tries to reassure you that things are going to change for the positive here soon, it never seems to. Pretty much constant decline in sales and enrollments. Leadership just keeps changing the way they look at the failure to make it seem not that bad. - The leadership team just can’t seem to figure it out and constantly make changes in departments. Every 2 or so years, they say “we got it this time”, lay-off half the team and then change job titles and responsibilities. When it doesn’t work out they rinse and repeat. Basically affects all areas of the organization, but especially higher ed. - The pay is below average and they continuously eliminate others roles so your responsibilities are constantly being added on to with no change in salary. Only promises of advancement opportunities (which are rare) to encourage you to go above and beyond on your workload. - The products are subpar. I don’t think anyone working there actually thinks they are good. They just convince educators to use them and then force students into purchasing them. Pretty much everyone hates them but fakes it for the sake of their job.

Cengage Response

2y

Thank you for taking the time to candidly share your experience. I am happy to hear that you enjoy the many benefits we provide including wellness days, parental leave, and remote work. Regarding the topic of change, I want to assure you that our strategy, and the work we all do to support it each day, is having an impact. In fact, we’ve seen two consecutive years of revenue growth which has reinforced our strategic approach and investment in growing education markets like skills training and English language learning. We are focused on transforming our operations to ensure efficient and impactful delivery amidst the evolving market landscape to ensure we can sustain and accelerate this growth going forward. We understand that change can sometimes create feelings of uncertainty. That's why we believe that creating space for open dialogue is the best approach. By embracing change and innovative technologies, we will secure our position as a market leader, sustaining and accelerating our overall success. If you have any specific questions or concerns, I encourage you to reach out to your manager or share your feedback with me directly. We value your insight and feedback about your experience. Best, Michael Hansen, CEO

Explore other reviews about Cengage

5.0

Mar 28, 2026

Content specialist

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.

6

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Jobs at Cengage

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Customer Success Consultant

Cengage

Appearance of a Great Place to Work but Not Reality - Anonymous employee Cengage Employee Review

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