Looks like MHE tech and operations teams are being gutted for higher ed and school. Are the other businesses affected. Any word on sales and customer support cuts? Who will be left to build new products? Santa monica closing? Any word on what will be left in Dubuque?
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Yes you read correct and good point about this reflecting only one project. He was a guru in microsoft access and website development but he was able to handle just about anything we threw at him. It's amazing how much other employees are willing to talk now that we're all working from home. No chance of being overheard. There are departments out there where much of what they do relies on some system(s) that he created for them. Since he left middle of october 2018 people have been scrambling to fill in the void in support of those systems. He always had the time to listen to you and help you in putting out fires as they arose. So yes the loss to MHE is far greater than what my department alone has experienced.
Now that the merger is off the table, does this mean that we're going back to the regular business model where frequent layoffs are the primary source of savings??? Or is there an actual plan to finally get the company to move forward? Apollo gets heafty dividend payments so isn't it enough after all these years for them to just cut us loose already!?!?
Am I reading the earlier postings below correct that one single individual had an annual effect of 900 thousand dollars savings to the company bottom line? That is what 2.7 million dollars every three years comes out to when you annualize their savings figure. And that is for one single project if I'm reading this right. Well gee. Whoever he is, talk about KO'ing the goose that can lay golden eggs. How many people does 900 thousand employ? A couple of vice presidents? A dozen analysts? Twenty admin assistants? How many additional people are going to be on the chopping block during the next layoff event as a result of that loss?
One of the first things they teach us in business school is how to do a cost-benefit analysis. These so-called leaders just don't bother to think about the consequences of laying off, or in the case below, constructively terminating one of their star employees. I wouldn't put these leaders in charge of my daughters lemonade stand much less trust them to run MHE.
Speaking of which, thank goodness the merger didn't go through as I do not relish in having Cengage's CEO at the helm. Simon, on the other hand, is one of the few rays of hope for this company.
What evidence is there that this merger is unlikely to go through? Just read the news, my doubting friends! Members of the US Congress are urging the DOJ to scrutinize the merger details and to investigate violations associated with current IA deals Cengage has pushed, which compel institutions to maintain a certain percentage (usually 80% of available adoptions) or risk losing their discount; the UK government has publicly expressed concern over the higher-cost result of the proposed merger, and; the value of Cengage debt is in free-fall (investors buy "shares" of debt on the odds of repayment - when the odds look good, the value of the debt rises, when odds are in doubt, the value falls). This merger just ain't going through, folks...
Well there we have it. My department recently completed a cost savings project which we do every three years. In the past we had the help of a business analyst whom i wrote about a few weeks ago in this forum. Without his ability to program an automated process and his analytical ability we were only able to cover about half the average $ amount we normally accomplish in the past. His boss and department head no doubt rewarded themselves for pushing out a loyal employee of 20 years. Hope it was worth losing $2.7 mil: the avg cost savings that would have been brought to the table with his help if he were still here. Even more staggering is that his supervisor got promoted again in april 2019 at the same time when others were losing their jobs! Her third promotion in 6 yrs. Raw talent is being pushed\thrown out the door while the bureacrats and their buddies get rewarded. Now my own boss is throwing temper tantrums due to our lower savings figure but oh well. Time for me to update my resume and leave this sinking ship.
Also remember that there are some pretty unscrupulous managers in the company that have no problem pushing people out the door in order to avoid from paying them severance. I knew someone that was up at the 2 Penn office that was with the company like 20 years. Nice fella, hard worker, very smart. Got pushed out a few months before the m—acre of April 2019. Surely his boss knew that mass layoffs were coming in a few months and he had packages available but gave him nothing because he 'voluntarily' left. Every one of us saw right through that.
@12UtweaP-meo
it's 2 weeks' pay for each year of your tenure at MHE. some get an additional $2000
I doubt the merger will go through if Apollo now thinks its a bad deal. The recent McGraw reorg seems to be to better position the company to go it alone in 2020.
The merger is absolutely going through. Lots of rumors but no evidence whatsoever that it can’t get DOJ approval.
No merger.. Can't get past DOJ.. Back to being a book company.. More cuts to come. That is the future.
@12UtweaP-2tju – That is simply bunk. At least for the school side, a lot of long-standing "american" employees were let go both this week, and 6 months ago. Don't make this a race or nationality thing. This is the dying of a business that meant a lot to a lot of people.
The merger is not going to happen. The DOJ has asked MCGraw to divest some very profitable pieces of its business, and they will not do that. Also, Cengage is doing very poorly. The best scenario for McGraw is to let Cengage become a fire sale. So the longer all of this drags on, the better for McGraw....As for the lay offs, they were extensive. Somewhere around 20 percent. McGraw is focused right now on very short-term goals. Anything even slightly longish term was ditched, as in almost all innovation initiatives. Look for more of the same in terms of traditional book publishing. McGraw is not a future oriented company at this time. However, the current strategy is not tenable for the long term and for future growth.
The last is out, over 600 people let go. As to the no merger question, because Simon pretty much said it at the sales meeting.
why are you saying that merger will not happen
The actual number is less than 200, any other number is just a rumor. Simon is the only hope Left for this company. Merger probably won’t happen.
Where did you hear that merger is not happening?
I heard that it was a lot of the product teams in higher ed as well. They better be giving decent severance to the many people they are screwing over.
Well - one good thing to come of this is those of us who were let go no longer have to listen to Simon's creepy double entendres and completely inappropriate 'jokes'. ick.
20% looks right. Looks like interim CEO is focused on becoming the king and k–ling the merger. He's a print guy, anyone digital or female should head for the door!
Most of Santa Monica Office is getting laid off, just heard it.
50 offshore contractors are getting laid off.
Did anyone get their severance package, wondering what it is and how much time I'll have to look for a new job.
I have just added. It is very close to 1000 who are gone now. 20 percent of the company. Merger is NOT going through.
It’s a little less than 200, some Santa Monica staff will work from home, not everyone in that office is being let go. At least they’re getting severance. After the merger the severance will be much less generous.
Santa Monica office will be closing down from what I've heard.
about 600 from what I see overall gone. Sales also. about 30 from Dubuque