Too much work, too little pay, too much indecision from upper management - Anonymous employee Cengage Employee Review

Layoffs occur every few months, leaving me in constant fear of losing my job. Also, many people have quit. Most people who have left (voluntarily or otherwise) have not been replaced, and of the few replacements that have been hired, the majority have not been trained adequately. This leaves those who remain to take on their normal workload plus a portion of the responsibilities of 1 - 3 missing people. Salaries are abysmally low for San Francisco to the point where working here is only possible if you either: 1) have a significant other that makes a lot of money, 2) work 2 or more jobs, 3) live with your parents, or 4) have a trust fund. The best you can hope to afford on your own is to rent someone's living room couch or closet. Assignments change rapidly with little prior notice. Lots of work gets wasted. You may work on a project for 9 months or more, only to find out in the final months of development that upper management hasn't formally approved the project (and isn't likely to) nor has the technology team been informed of your project (so even if it is ultimately approved, the supporting technology will not be ready in time for you to hit the due dates you were operating under for the last 9 months).