Thread regarding Cengage layoffs

For the newer employees who joined in the last few months, I don't think you fully appreciate why so many people are frustrated right now. This isn't about one meeting. This isn't about one reorg. This isn't even about May 1. What you're seeing today is the result of years of leadership believing they could engineer growth through restructuring instead of earning growth through execution.

Every 18 months there's a new strategy, a new org chart, a new reporting structure, a new alignment model, and a new set of buzzwords. Every time we're told this version is different. The people who have been here for a while have seen this movie before. That's why the skepticism is so high.

The frustration isn't coming from employees who hate change. It's coming from employees who have watched experienced people leave, watched institutional knowledge disappear, watched customer relationships become less important, and watched leadership repeatedly underestimate how this business actually works.

Higher Education is not software. It's not consulting. It's not consumer technology. It's a relationship business. Always has been. Faculty relationships matter. Department relationships matter. Bookstore relationships matter. The long-term trust built by reps matters. Yet somehow the people closest to those realities seemed to have the smallest voice in designing the future.

What's most telling is that five months after what was supposedly a nine-month planning effort, we're still talking about alignment. Think about that. If a strategy is truly well designed, employees spend their time executing it. If employees are still trying to understand it months later, the problem may not be the employees. The problem may be the strategy.

For new employees, the biggest lesson is this: don't judge the reaction of longtime employees without understanding the history. Many of the people questioning leadership today are the same people who raised concerns months ago about territories, installed base ownership, reporting, compensation, adoption visibility, Customer Success workloads, and faculty impact. Most of those concerns were dismissed. Now they're becoming reality.

That's why people are speaking up. Not because they want the company to fail. Not because they're afraid of change. But because they care enough to recognize when the company is repeating the same mistakes and calling it transformation.

And that's the part that should concern everybody. When the people who know the business best are consistently ignored, eventually the business starts showing the consequences. At some point the PowerPoints run out, the slogans stop working, and the reorganizations lose their shine.

The results don't.

And I think that's what many of us are watching happen in real time right now.

AFTER THIS ALLHANDS CALL, IM 99% CERTAIN THAT YOU ARE GOING TO SEE 2 OR 3 EXECUCTIVES GET VOTED OFF THE ISLAND. MJ was the most recent, but there are more coming. POPCORN ANYONE???? OH! and I have to say it... KT in HR has no clue about the business... she is just process. It is so stupid to have her on these calls, it would be more productive to have her sitting with the Board Members analyzing MH performance today.

"Something Feels different? Do you feel it?" - One of MH stupidest statements.

Hope he feels the foot kicking him out the door.

Today at 10am ALL HANDS CALL... With the Brightest Cengage has to Offer these days. CEO -"MH" , Head of HR- "KT" , President of Work - JS and President of HE and School - "NK" and CPO (previously called CTO) - "DP" All of whom are on the chopping block, Watch Today?!??!? Have they turned over enough of the company to receive the Cheers and the RAH-RAH they want so badly? MH needs it, its intoxicating to him. Or will Barbwire and her crew, overshadow ALL Hands with their Dirty Hands?

What's becoming painfully obvious is that this Executive Team mistakes activity for competence and reorganization for strategy.

Back in May, we were told this new structure was the result of nine months of exhaustive research, analysis, modeling, planning, workshops, alignment sessions, consultant input, leadership reviews, and countless hours of preparation by some of the supposedly brightest minds in the company.

Think about that for a second.

Nine months.
Hundreds of meetings.
Countless PowerPoints.
Endless leadership discussions.
Months of "change management."
Months of "strategic planning."
Months of "future state design."

Yet somehow, five months after launch:

Reps still don't know what their territories are worth.
Historical reporting still isn't available.
Sales credits are still being disputed.
Adoption visibility is worse than ever.
Installed base ownership remains confusing.
Customer Success is overwhelmed.
Faculty are frustrated.
Employees are exhausted.

And now we're having an "All Hands: Aligning On Our Strategy" meeting. Which raises an uncomfortable question:

If these highly compensated executives spent nine months designing the perfect plan, why are they still trying to explain the plan five months after it launched?

That's what makes employees skeptical. Not because we're resistant to change. Not because we don't understand strategy.

It's because the people making these decisions consistently present themselves as visionary experts while failing to anticipate problems that frontline employees identified almost immediately.

The people closest to the customers saw the flaws.
The people closest to the products saw the flaws.
The people closest to the revenue saw the flaws.

Yet somehow the leadership team, armed with all the data, all the resources, all the consultants, all the analysts, and all the authority, completely missed them.

Or worse, ignored them.

The international teams were told sacrifices were being made to strengthen the U.S. business.

The U.S. teams were told the new structure would drive growth. Customer Success was told they could absorb responsibilities previously handled by experienced salespeople.

Sales was told installed base would largely take care of itself. Now, five months later, everyone is discovering the same thing:

The people who designed this model understood PowerPoint slides better than they understood the actual business. And that's the part that should concern everybody.

Because if leadership is still trying to "align on strategy" five months after implementation, then maybe the problem isn't execution.

Maybe the problem is that the strategy itself was never as brilliant as they convinced themselves it was. At some point, accountability has to move upward. The company doesn't need another alignment meeting. The company doesn't need another catchy slogan. The company doesn't need another executive presentation explaining why employees aren't seeing what leadership sees.

The company needs leaders who understand the business they're leading.

And right now, that's exactly what many employees are questioning.

Can’t wait to learn about the new NEW alignment strategy tomorrow that’s definitely different than the May strategy that’s different than the Engagement Summit strategy…… lololololololol

@er Yes, very well said. "It was once really good." And there was no reason it couldn't remain so, but now I see no way to get it back.

Sales Enablement was created by SYP/GM "ER" ( terminated 10/3/25) and Barbwire. This makes sense they are replacing these employees. They want them gone before Barbwire's last day!

That means we should hear very soon, that National Director "LE" (Mrs. Toxic) and Director of the CSC/CSS - "AD" (Clown-painted eyebrows) have been shown the door.

Then we can focus on SVP - NK (MeNOSell) and SVP MW (drawka - akward) both who at one time shared the same leadership position at the same time, until everyone realized MW likes the closet , so back he went to his safe space. (please someone turnout the lights on him).

@hs anyone with “higher salaries” are getting culled out.

@hn weird, it seems like they are hiring a new manager for sales enablement. perhaps, getting rid of people with longer tenure?

There were layoffs in sales enablement this week too.

@gy, I don't even know how one even becomes a yes person in this brutal environment. The workload keeps increasing every week. There's only so much people can handle.

@er so very well said.

It’s also interesting to see the pattern of the people that are getting fired. If you’re not a yes person or hired by the new ET team- you’re days are limited.

I joined this organization back when Thomson was just beginning to organize itself originally. An expansion hire, in other words. Back then, the imprints Thomson acquired were tops in their chosen disciplines. Brooks Cole was top of the math heap. Southwestern owned Accounting and Business. Delmar was an aggressive player in health care and trades, Milady enjoyed 90+% marketshare in beauty, Wadsworth was a heavy hitter on the soft side and of course, Course Technology was THE definition of IT . . .

I think of all of those authors, and all of those franchises, and I just shudder when I see what's become of all of that. I peek in here very occasionally to see how the company is faring, and it is so sad to me. For those of you who are still engaged with this organization, I'm sorry. It was once really good. Once you've moved on in your career, by hook or by crook, do know that you have been through the worst that corporate life has to offer ... this is just a tragedy.

Well, it is even worse outside of the U.S. We thought our reduced head count, data, products, etc. were shifting to support the U.S. teams and bring in more revenue for the company. So this is terribly depressing. And now we are left with a head of intl sales, who is more of an engineer, who likes to travel.

@dx so we need to stop all the changes, but not until after you want to make more changes. Makes sense - good luck with being stupid.

I keep hearing certain people call every criticism "fake news," but the reality is that leadership changes continue to happen because the strategy isn't delivering the results employees were promised.

The bigger question isn't who left today. The bigger question is why so many organizational changes keep happening in the first place.

Over the last several years we've seen:

Reorganizations after reorganizations
Constant shifts in sales strategy
Territory realignments
Changes to compensation plans
Increased pressure on CUI and revenue targets
Rising pricing across major products
Loss of experienced industry talent
Growing frustration from employees and customers

At some point, the conversation needs to move beyond individual personnel decisions and focus on leadership accountability.

The May 1st reorganization was presented as a transformational strategy. Now employees are being asked to operate in new structures, cover new disciplines, learn unfamiliar products, and hit aggressive targets while dealing with uncertainty across the organization.

What many employees want is simple:

A consistent strategy
Clear communication
Real transparency
Leadership that understands the Higher Ed market
Stability instead of constant disruption

The company doesn't need another reorganization. It doesn't need another slogan. It doesn't need another PowerPoint explaining why everything is actually going according to plan.

It needs results.

With the IPO conversation still hanging over the company, employees are paying close attention. The real test isn't who leaves or who stays. The real test is whether leadership can stabilize the business, retain customers, and rebuild trust with the people doing the work every day.

Until that happens, employees will continue asking tough questions. And frankly, they should.

Looking forward to the upcoming departures.. barbwire and anyone she was directly involved in hiring. National Director LE and RR, both two of the nastiest leaders at Cengage, but they are just like Barbwire.

Power Corrupts, Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely!!!

Let's Go Apollo. Finish this off , get rid of , MH,NK, MW, Barbwire . we need oxygen and a new start.

@dp MJ a VP was let go

@da training is the problem. There are lots of people who’ve never worked in the textbook side, came from other companies and have no clue what they are supposed to do. Not their fault. I’m sure they are all looking not to learn bc they are interviewing to get out.

Please let us know what you find out!

@dm wow, we in the Higher Ed content side are completely in the dark. I wonder if they will share anything with us.

@df there is a call at 3 announcing changes

@d8 can you share more?

@d9 “but you’re getting paid on your old territory through Oct 1” LOL. Also how about everyone lose access to their old territory in SF 5 months ago and now they are yelling about how bad SF data is. When does it end.

F-K Salesforce... the new people on my Team are so clueless. The training they are receiving is not landing and/or the training or trainers is the problem. The questions they are asking at 1 month, 2 month and 3 month mark , shows exactly where they are in the learning curve. It is sooooo soooo bad... this company is in trouble.

Oh! They definitely thought through bonuses/commissions..... that why there is no sales data for us to review.

Higher ed reps sold jan, feb,, mar and april, many of us closed new business Takeaways, but the Reorg placed us into disciplines where are Takeaways are not. Example: A rep won a huge Economics adoption 3500+ units per year, but they placed them in the social science discipline. So another rep in their POD is getting this huge win. They say it should all work out because there are wins in each territory that wasn't won by that rep ..... we found two adoptions 100 units for each?!?! WTF ,,, 200 units doesn't replace a 3500 unit win. We have been told not to worry about it, we will have a discussion and figure out a solution. This place is a mess, I'm out of here soon... trying to figure out a way to take this new job and not notify Cengage for 3 months to ensure I double dip to get my money I feel is owed to me.....

The bonus plans aren't real they are constructed after the sales have come in and then mgt reviews it and then they manipulate the whole thing,,,,

All Hands meeting.... LOL NK go out and learn how to sell... we want you to post at least 5 big wins that you had something to do with.... you MIT- Loser. Your passive aggressive approach is not working!!!

And now heads are starting to roll. Dominos are starting to fall this afternoon.

There's this one person downvoting all the replies lol

@OP same old message from a washed up ex-employee.

@ag literally what did they do for 9 whole months. Nothing works. We have no reports. They didn’t think through commissions owed and where sales credits are due. Reps are working their old adoptions at their old accounts to get activations and sell through. Gale people are working the libraries. Their “change leaders” were all yes people with no backbone to tell them the truth about this set up and reality on the ground. They’ve made their beds.

@ag Cmpletely agree 100%. From the most recent email: Cengage All-Hands: Aligning on Our Strategy

We’ve adjusted the name of this month’s First Friday to Cengage All-Hands, as we bring everyone together to focus on our strategy and priorities. [Names redacted] will discuss where we’re headed, how we’ll win, and how we’ll work together to get there.

Changing the name of this one meeting will sure make us win! Also, you don't align on anything. It's just align. I hope AI will be discussed now that experts say it's going to ki-l us all in a few years.

How are we just now having a launch of the new Cengage brand in late October lmao. This company got blown up at the end of April- do they think the Gale and ELT customers don’t know by know-5 months into this tragedy?

Also an all hands meeting aligning our strategy 5 months after the cluster of a set up is so ON BRAND. They told us they spent 9 months researching this particular set up back in May, and it was clear on day 1 how much they had not thought through. A year later they are still having to have strategy meetings on how to align all of this. L O Lz