Q&A With Pearson Employees

Depends on the skill set you bring to the table. Pearson pays at or above average for IT roles

I would say a little above the average.

Slightly above industry average for staff roles, more so for management. The trap is that salaries and titles are rarely tied - promotion does not guarantee a raise, and with continued layoffs and reorganizations, one person can easily be asked to do the work of four or five departed colleagues, with no increase in compensation or title change.

My personal leadership is excellent here at Pearson.

My direct leadership is awesome.

The people and technology

The workers and line managers are great people, and very skilled at what they do. Too much of their energy and the spending to support them is wasted as upper management changes direction too often, leaving projects half-done, or less, in the name of being "nimble."

Knowledgable and professional.

Smart, hardworking, dedicated, and fun.

My team is excellent.

I work 40 hours a week plus some on-call work due to the nature of my role. The vibe here overall is good.

Most of us work a 40 hour week with an on-call rotation, as we are a global company.

The "vibe" is very low. Leaders who were communicating and engaging even six months ago have become more and more distant and silent. As to hours, that depends greatly on your function and on your manager. If your team is 100% local to you and your manager, chances are you can have a normal, manageable schedule. If your manager is in another time zone, or on another continent, or going crazy from the turnover in the management layers above them, then your schedule will probably not be so nice and neat.

Vacation policy is good in general. It can be more or less lenient depending on who your manager/director is.

The vacation policy in the US is very "aggressive," starting at two weeks for your first two years, then increasing to three weeks in the third year, three and a half in year seven, and four weeks in year ten, with a "bonus" fifth week added every fifth year after that. Plus, each employee gets five "sick" days, five "personal" days, and one "employee-designated holiday" each year, so even a rookie has four weeks of paid time off available - survive a couple re-orgs, and you can end up trying to cram it all in by year-end. That's the one drawback - it's a "use it or lose it" deal.

All right in terms of time. It depends on your manager to be a decent person whether they'll let you go out during the busy season. There is a lot of work from home and flexible hours.

Mixed

Depends greatly on the business unit, and time with Pearson. Those who've joined under Fallon are pretty tolerant, those more senior much less so. The older folks remember a growing Pearson, and are deeply saddened and frustrated with the diminishing one.

As a person, he's well-regarded; as a manager (let alone executive), he has no credibility left. Calls for accountability ring quite hollow when the CEO is left in place after yearly profit warnings. Either his direct reports haven't found good information, haven't presented it, or he isn't listening.

Engaging and mellow

It is pretty calm. We have an open floor plan, so one can hear lots of different conversations going on.

At the moment, things are pretty downbeat, especially at the "legacy" offices. A new wave of headcount reduction (3,000 positions) has been recently announced, and that's apart from any sale of more major businesses, such as the US K-12 unit, or outsourcing/"re-bagding", where Pearson employees are transferred to a vendor, sometimes with a significant cut in compensation. There's little accountability above the middle management layer, and much of the top talent has left, or been pushed out in the other two re-organizations since the current CEO took over.

1, no

There are zero women in my architecture team.

Network with people and have a tailored resume for the role you are applying for.

Having a connection.

Not difficult at all.

Not difficult at all.

I enjoy my day here at Pearson.

I feel good. The integrity is something that gives me great confidence in making a difference and knowing I’m an important asset.

Fairly secure at this time.

I feel very secure in my position but eould like more opportunity for advancement.

Great people and managment

The benefits and coworkers. Team members are genuine and have good work erhics.

Choppy in some areas. However decor and special areas are nice.

Open office space.

Panel interviews that must go through a tag team process to avoid biases.

somewhat extensive, but nothing abnormal from an HR perspective.

Marketing is growing.

Print is dying. Direct digital access is where most of the resources are moving.

Budgeting controls everything.

Pearson makes decisions based on seniority and reviews from your direct manager. The only person who reviews you after your self-review is your direct manager. They have strongly resisted having 360-reviews or input from colleagues and are management-heavy. Just this past month was the first Pearson attempt to have managers reviewed by their direct reports, managers, and colleagues.

Awesome

Officially - terrific. There's a very progressive vacation policy, and competitive personal/sick time allowed. Practically - staff cuts without coordinated reductions in workload have many folks working evenings and weekends to make up for missing headcount. This is tolerable for a while, but it's been going on for years, and shows no hint of ending.

The normal and flexible work hours

Java

Pretty good, but could be better.

In my group we innovate every day