Thread regarding Cengage layoffs

Viewed the roles in Cengage Sharepoint today that were eliminated last week, bunch of DPMs, Software engineers, CAs fired. Three CPMs added.

"Inside Sales is “largely” unprotected now."

That was always an illusion, anyway. ; )

I don’t know why inside sales would be in trouble. Cherie made a ton of dough and despite being very good was easily replaceable by someone cheaper.

I am guessing Inside Sales is “largely” unprotected now.

"the rest of the project "will be realized in the next 18 months."

Ah, so another year and a half of people living in fear. Thanks for the morale boost, dear leader!

@1zvq+1shevU8y - some people are given the mercy of working a couple more weeks

MH thanked everyone for being patient for the uncertainty last nine months, but only after he said that the rest of the project "will be realized in the next 18 months."

Checking the departures page for the week of April 21 shows about 50 workers leaving, none of them Gale. Almost all were from Laton Amerocan higher ed.

MH - "Role eliminations aligned to the reset operating model are largely complete." aka NOT complete.

Also, they are hiring 2-3 CMs/week from India. If that isn't a sign, I don't know what is.

The smart content managers are already leaving, they know what's coming.

Finance is getting cut next. And another round of Content Manager layoffs is coming in July.

Project Horizon was never more than a faulty communications decision on the part of the company. Cengage has always reorganized (and laid off employees) at least 2x per year. However, this time they decided to give it an ominous name and announce it to the whole company. God knows why, as all it did was tank morale and make people feel a sense of ongoing dread.

All this is to say, even if you outlast the term of the Horizon layoffs, it doesn’t mean you won’t be let go 6 months later in an unbranded round of cuts.

The company’s internal operating budget is being mercilessly stripped by private equity to increase its on-paper value in hopes of securing a more profitable sale price in the near future. Since it takes almost a year for products to be developed, the effects won’t be immediately noticed, but when the the products produced under this model hit the market, it’s going to get really messy.

Horizon or no Horizon: the future of the organization is murky and your job security is very limited. Act accordingly and in service of your own best interests.

Greetings,

While Project Horizon proved to be an unmitigated success at launch, we must continue preparing ourselves for disruption and change, as it is the Cengage way.

Let me be clear: our core business is strong, and we must continually monitor our resources, scalability, and new and innovative ways to streamline our organization so that disruption can occur at all levels.

It is important to note that Cengage is seen as a dynamic innovator that has disrupted and single-handily defined the EdTech space with Cengage Unlimited, which has saved students hundreds of millions of dollars. We will continue our mission to change the way that students across the globe learn.

Full Stop!

"I was told that CS should be safe now after last week."

Yeah, everyone is told that. Especially after a big layoff. Cherie used to deliver those messages herself, until . . .

Where you place your trust is you business, but trust with caution ...

; )

I was told that CS should be safe now after last week.

I find it interesting that if you weren't in one of those groups you would have no idea what was going on. I got a general email from a higher up but it didn't give any specifics on who was let go or which sections. And I agree that this board gives me way more info on the company than the company itself.

Horizon's ongoing, and I expect they'll have their annual downsizes post-BTS to boot. I'd conservatively say if you have a job at Thanksgiving, you've probably made it(for whatever that's worth by what will be left)

They did say in the email announcement

"To that end, we are continuing to shift project management and production tasks to our Content Production International (CPI) team. This change, coupled with the decrease in the digital delivery pipeline as we move to a simplified and consolidated assessment solution, has resulted in the difficult decision to eliminate 5 DPMs.

As we continue to look for ways to increase our capacity, scalability, and support of the content production needs of other Cengage businesses, we will further refine our operating model and evolve our teams’ roles."

This round is over, but the downsize is not yet complete. Last summer Hanson said that "Horizon" will take about eighteen months to complete. That was only ten or eleven months ago. It's hard to say how the remaining actions will play out; whether there will be another big wave or two or if they will toss individual contributors aside in a more quiet, lowkey way.

It does seem that both inside and outside sales will be effected, probably within the next month or two. And there is still considerable bloat in middle management.

There is definitely more to come, but there is nothing to be done about this other than to be prepared in case it happens to you and then soldier on with the job. Really though, anyone working with Cengage should be actively looking for work right now. The likely result of all this action will be a sale or a break-up of the company in some fashion, and that will mean even more reorgs and layoffs. That is always what happens after a sale. If you're not actively looking right now, you are likely to be doing so within a couple of years anyway, and it's always better to do things on your own terms.

I think, no more layoffs. It’s Monday morning, a fresh start to the week, I say let’s give the new leaders a chance. The vibe feels good. Let’s clear all the negativity out of headspace.