Given the ongoing layoffs, offshoring, and role creep, would you support a union for Cengage employees?
22 replies (most recent on top)
Let me be clear. All non-sales managers receive bonuses. I am one, I manage one, I manage three senior individual contributors on annual bonus plans.
UNION IS COMING!!!! Wear black on Monday to show your support!
so when is the first union meeting?
Let me be clear.
The only Cengage employees who receive or received annual cash bonuses are sales. Granted this is a large percentage of the company due to sales being the largest division of the Cenforce.
All employees outside of the salesforce receive their bonuses in the form of wellness days and employee resource groups.
@1ek+1jmyxyvjm - Thank you. This point is very well made. The constant barrage of insults on this site is becoming quite tiresome. It seems to me that it is same individual behind it all. Instead of judging strangers, why not find something more constructive to do? If you truly feel so knowledgeable and content, why are you on this platform in the first place? Your intentions are so transparent.
@1dw+1jmyxyvjm - The point of this site is to share insights, commiserate, support each other, vent. It is not meant for lectures on what we should have known/done. Glad for you that you reaped the benefits of bonuses in your role/time at Cengage. Many of us were not in a role that included bonuses and we are not whining about that. We made our choice of career and are just trying to figure out where to go from here. We are not children and do not need to be lectured about how make decisions in life. Lectures not needed.
You all just arrived too late or stayed too long. I averaged $30K a year in bonus for 15 years. Had one $80K bonus and multiple $50K checks.
We all knew the gravy train would end. It ended with private equity. If you could not see this would be the case, then I don't know what to tell you.
Life is about seeing around corners and clearly some people on this site lack that ability.
People were talking about a union in the 90's. Good luck with that. It was always the non-performers.
@kc+1jmyxyvjm Let’s be completely honest. If you’re trying to make a long term career at Cengage work it’s because you can’t make it anywhere else. Every position at Cengage is bottom of the barrel in terms of compensation compared to anywhere else.
Cengage is so mismanaged by Michael and co that there is no money for bonuses even if you formed a union. Good luck to the PE vampires who can only eat marrow - there is no fat.
I wasn't the one commenting on bonuses, but I left in 2016 and remember one bonus payout. It was 2012 or 2013 when we changed our fiscal year from December to March, so we technically had a 9 month fiscal year. Daniel dramatically announced that we were receiving a 6% bonus....for a 9 month fiscal year. So a 4% bonus. That was the most we ever got while I was there, which is an insult if you've ever worked at a company that pays real bonuses. They typically are 10% or more.
"If you're saying we weren't eligible for bonuses in the last twenty years, that's simply not true."
Which department did you work in? Were you in sales or did you hold a higher position within the company? Editorial staff rarely received them—maybe once, if at all. It might also depend on your specific role or location. I’m referring to Gale in particular.
If you're saying we weren't eligible for bonuses in the last twenty years, that's simply not true.
Pre-Cengage, when we were Thomson, bonuses came like clockwork for everyone. When Cengage was formed, we received our bonuses as a condition of the new company, which was good (bird in the hand) and kind of bad, because it was pro-rated (IIRC).
After Ron Dunn left, bonuses didn't happen as much, but they did happen. For a while we had unattainable numbers. Then we had numbers that looked achievable but then wouldn't be at the last minute.
Once, a higher-up told us we were getting our full bonuses, but they never came, and we got a short email telling us it wasn't happening.
As for what the bonus structure is now, I have no idea. I went through a period of decent raises in the Thomson days. My first raise at Thomson was for $10,000 even. My raises over maybe 14 years at Cengage didn't equal anywhere near that and we hit plan twice, IIRC. I remember being told to "be happy" for a .25% raise shortly before I resigned.
It's really dependent on where you work at Cengage. I worked there for over 10 years starting on the publishing side and then moved to the marketing/product side. In general, you could level up outside of Cengage and publishing if you worked on the marketing/product side. Of course much of this depends on the individual and their experience, but many of those positions (product manager, product marketing manager, etc.) were the same or similar in other industries making the skills very transferrable.
Many of the "lifers" I worked with on the publishing/production side had a very difficult time finding new jobs after being let go by Cengage. Most of those jobs are very general project management roles which deal with getting content from outside contributors and/or formatting it. It's difficult to show how those skills are transferrable outside of publishing. And, to be honest, it was very apparent to me 10-15 years ago that these jobs would eventually be outsourced or eliminated. Most companies aren't going to pay professional salaries and benefits for pushing paper these days -- even if those salaries are at the bottom end.
yup, I know at least a few people who were able to secure jobs after Cengage.
Soup Nutzi:
Almost everyone I know who left Cengage has found a job elsewhere, proving that the skills are transferable. Those individuals did not work in tech. In addition, peons at Cengage don't receive bonuses, and the raises were minuscule. During my 20+ years there, layoffs were constant. So once again, nothing you’re saying is accurate. I don't think you actually worked at Cengage.
In all seriousness, the publishing industry has been hemorrhaging jobs for over a decade.
The skills many of my non-tech colleagues at Cengage possessed weren't transferable to other industries. If someone applied at Pearson, they may have a leg up.
Most of my team members were at Cengage to get experience and take advantage of the grad school tuition assistance. I wrote most of my papers while sitting in my cube and I know many others did the same thing.
The lifers were friendly, primarily, albeit territorial, people. In the Thomson days it made sense, as it was a good place for a career that paid pretty well and didn't have the stress or layoffs that other companies had. The bonuses and raises could be counted on as well.
If you look at Cengage's balance sheet, there's no money for union wages. Also, are publishing professionals so in-demand that the company would agree to unionization or would it move to another state?
It's a nice idea, but I've worked union jobs before, and there are as many minuses as plusses.
Someone should float the idea, though. Put up some flyers and see what happens.
This would be a good thing to post on Slack or bring up for First Friday!
Fu-k yeah! Mason should be first!
Private equity would liquidate what’s left of the company.
Soup Nutzi @bb+1jmyxyvjm:
Workload differs for everyone, but nearly every person I know who worked at Cengage was overworked and underpaid, which is common in publishing jobs. If you're being honest about your light workload, I envy you, but I’m pretty sure you’re just the Cengage Layoffs troll, making sh!t up yet again.
I would support it.
This reminds me of the John Oliver sketch where he begs Donald Trump to run for president, offering to write him a check.
Some nice people work at Cengage, but most have zero transferable skills outside of maybe working at Barnes and Noble, which may be out of business.
For years, educational publishing was a low-stress, stable career that paid well for the small amount of work we all put forth. Sadly, those days are gone.
Unionizing Cengage would be a disaster for everyone involved.