I was relieved that I was laid off from Cengage Learning - Anonymous employee Cengage Employee Review

1.0
22 Apr 2011
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

While working with the customers directly had its trying moments, it definitely challenged me and I enjoyed working with them, especially the really nice ones. A pro for me was that I was so relieved to get "the bad news" that one day, because I don't think I would have been able to stand it much longer. Why? I can only tolerate immature, fake and loud people for so long! I guess a tissue box would have been handy for some of the others that got the boot. To the ones I could not stand, I would have been like, "Here's a Clorox wipe, I mean Kleenex tissue." =oX

Cons

The trying moments I may have had with the customers weren't as bad as what I had to put up with (day in and day out) in the office. I really felt like pulling my hair out having to listen to some really, really, really, REALLY annoying and obnoxiously loud people while I was working. One would think some of these people were still in high school. Also, the act of "playing favorites" can exist. I guess it all depends on who your manager is. It sucked when I experienced it, but you learn from it. While I am naturally a good judge of character, my experience only strengthened my senses when it comes to people. A bad experience with a manager can enable one to make that clear distinction between a potentially bad manager and a potentially good one. Just trust your instincts! And remember, be just as picky with who your future manager is, as much as they are selective to who they hire for the job. Because if you do accept the job offer, you will be living most of your days with them at work. And it will suck if they are not your ideal manager. If you are not selective, you may end up dreading going to work, and erk every time you see or hear his/her voice. Trust me.

Explore other reviews about Cengage

3.0
4 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Company has some interesting approaches to the market and in the past they seemed value employees. There are some good employees there and there was, in the past, visionary leadership, but the people with the vision and leadership skills left the company a few years ago.

Cons

The company actively de-values employees. They had a project they called "Project Horizon" where they told all employees they needed to cut costs, so the company was going to have multiple layoffs over 3-5 years - but nobody was allowed to know when, where, or why - - just one day large swaths of people would be gone. That hung over everyone's heads - for years, and is indicative of how Cengage values employees - it doesn't. Everything is about trying to secure new funding and prepare for an IPO, so they stopped investing significantly in the products about 3 years ago and that's about when they stopped acting like they cared about employee wellness as well.

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