Pearson Reviews

Pros

The people at Pearson are interesting
The people at Pearson are intelligent
The work at Pearson is fulfilling
Education is an important value throughout the organization
I feel like I have always been compensated for the work that I put in

Cons

As with any company sometimes there are company politics at hand
The large divisions do not communicate with each other - it is as if they are different companies altogether

Advice to Senior Management

Sometimes the political stuff can get annoying to those in the lower ranks, especially when they just want to do their jobs

Pros

The benefits are some of the best around. It takes only a couple of years to get 3 weeks of vacation and 1 week of vacation time. Health insurance costs are reasonable. Strong team environments and many opportunities to learn from others. A very relaxed environment, and flexible hours.

Cons

As with most larger companies, work environments differ between groups. Although my group averages 40 hour weeks, there are some groups that are averaging around 60 hours a week.

Pros

The pay is ridiculously good especially in my position. When I heard the pay when I started I thought the interviewer had said 20k lower, and accepted it as a reasonable offer.

The flexible schedule is good, but with a catch which I will post in the Cons section. You also get plenty of vacation, with a catch I'll post in Cons.

The Health benefits are adequate as well.

They seem to be very willing to help employees if they are having trouble understanding a task.

Cons

The lack of communication and accountability usually causes projects at risk to only come up as "at risk" at the end, in which case they bring in whoever they can to fix it. If you get picked, enjoy working 65 hours a week for 3 weeks until you fix the problem that someone else created. Lots of working over holidays, which is why I had the 'catch' from the Pro section.

Proactive attention to problems would probably resolve 50% of the issues that cause employees strife. Management is VERY hands off, and if you try to bring up issues they become extremely defensive, no matter how graceful you try to be.

Lack of trust in management, and lack of any sort of management training causes employee dissatisfaction. If you are expecting managers to have your back on issues. They will wait until the last moment to get involved, then appear to have your back, only to fall through in the end.

New products or internal processes delayed up to three years, leading to interim solutions that stretch out far longer than they should. Usually problems aren't addressed or management doesn't help until their name appears on a report that all other managers (along with those above them) see.

Advice to Senior Management

I feel leadership is simply there to "fill the role", to approve timesheets; and not really to lead a team or manage their workers. Granted some employees need more/less management than others, but take an in depth look and decide what is needed instead of ignoring whatever issue it is until it's brought up in a report.

Pros

Pearson has great benefits and a lot of great people working for the company. Employees seem to share passion for what the company is trying to do. The CEO visits many of the major offices every year and says that we're working to make education better, not to make profits. She says that profits are what allows us to do great things, but our primary goal should be improving education of children and adults globally. She's a solid thinker and highly admirable.

Cons

The pay for most positions seems to be a little below market value, but there are very good benefits (tuition reimbursement, 401K matching, medical/dental/vision/life insurance at very affordable rates, lots of opportunity). It can be a real issue getting people's salaries to market value once they're in the system, but I don't think that's too different from anywhere else. Sometimes you have to work long hours, but it's nothing like working at places like Google or Apple.

Advice to Senior Management

Overall, I think senior management has done a very good job at being transparent and efficient. I'd say, "Keep it up!"

Pros

Pearson is great place to work. They give you alternative to work from home or remotely.

Cons

Promotions are not much and even if that happen it is random.

Advice to Senior Management

Give opportunity to the right people. Be transparent.

Pros

Pearson is a strong company that has weathered the financial crisis very well. They nurture talent and believe in treating their employees respectfully.

Cons

Because of their culture of nurturing employees, there is not a lot of turn over. Usually that is a good thing but sometimes it serves to keep stale ideas in circulation.

Advice to Senior Management

To stay competitive, digital competencies should be brought in to accelerate progress.

Pros

Flexibility in working arrangements. Good location with great transport links nearby with local pubs and restaurants.
Colleagues are generally well-qualified and good people, friendly.
Work/life balance is also good.

Cons

Promotion and appointment decisions seem to be made based purely on politics and who you know rather than ability or experience. The level of politics is the highest of anywhere I've worked. The blame culture in particular is incredibly damaging, with a shoot first ask questions later approach.

Advice to Senior Management

In order to survive and grow Pearson is going to need to innovate - which it seems incapable of doing. Innovation by acquisition can only take you so far, and you will end up destroying value if you can't nuture innovation within the organisation.

Pros

Pearson is a great organization to work for. Management is outstanding, exec leadership are involved and aware of goings-on and interact with front-line employees frequently. There are several visionary folks throughout the organization and while they are loosely organized (see: Yammer), they are able to help shape and shift the organization. I would heartiliy recommend Pearson!

Cons

There are challenges, as there are in any large organization, particularly around innovation and challenging the status quo. It's not quite the monolith that IBM or other Blue Chip organizations are, but there are times that change comes slowly (if at all). Internal shared services are less than ideal. The green initiatives have not yet reached HR/payroll services and certainly not accounts payable.

Advice to Senior Management

Find your visionaries, link them better, listen to them more closely. Pay attention to your customers, find a way to sift out some of the chaff (it does still exist).

Pros

products are really meaningful to the public, so there's some reward out of that; analyst positions have really good job security

Cons

on the development side, you really need a phd to really advance

Advice to Senior Management

no real advice at this time except spend some more time getting to know 'lower level' employees

Pros

Flexibility is out of this world.
Salary is decent for the area when compared to other companies.

Cons

Leadership is horrible.
Communication is not existent.
Incompetency in many leadership roles
Building appearance is out dated and crowded

Advice to Senior Management

Know what your employees do and how things actually work. Stop posturing and take an active role in your position.