Pearson Education Reviews

Pros

Very good benefits if you are permanent (not term-of-project)
Some good colleagues
OK pay compared to some areas of publishing at small firms
Fall Fridays ( as opposed to summer Fridays)

Cons

Most employees are term-of-project, so not permanent. Our contracts were all due to expire on December 31st. We heard nothing, meaning that we did not know whether to come to work on January 1st. We did come in, only to receive our letters renewing employment a few days later. People had not known whether they could afford to travel home for the vacation or how much they could spend on presents, due to the uncertainty of the job.

If you are permanent, you receive a bonus of many thousands of dollars. I was kept term-of-project, only to find out that someone with over a decade less experience than me - that is, only a couple of years of experience post-college, someone very young - had been made permanent, and then specifically told not to tell me. In addition, I had to have surgery and was told that Pearson would not pay me for the time I was off recovering, because I was term-of-project, despite two years of flawless mistake-free service and long hours from me.

If you are just out of college, joining any Pearson company is a superb start, even if it's Pearson Learning Solutions. But if you have over two years post-college experience, this place is more likely to hold you back than do you any favors.

Advice to Senior Management

Do the right thing and resign. The current senior management has been messing this place up for years. The turnover is unbelievable. I left seven months ago and already the team is unrecognizable.

Pros

benefits are good, products are good, middle managers are competent

Cons

senior managers are not very good, work is very complicated and unnecessarily so

Advice to Senior Management

make things simpler, give people more room for advancement

Pros

great benefits, good work/life balance, great co-workers, green company, charitable company,

Cons

low pay, lack of communication, no growth potential

Advice to Senior Management

communication. communication. communication.
Value your employees more, even those who are not management.

Pros

Very easy to get hired. No real interview process...I signed up online, was called that same day and offered a project, and simply had to submit documents to verify my qualifications. Started work the next day. The training was very thorough and everyone I've encountered has been friendly and professional. The work is generally easy and someone is always available to answer questions or provide assistance.

Cons

Scorers are temporary workers and as such there is no job security. When testing season is over, then there's no more work. You are assigned to one project at a time, so there's no guarantee you'll be working continuously--just like any other temp job. The amount paid per item is less than the advertised pay per hour if you work at the pace they expect. Work is monotonous as it is the same thing all day long.

Pros

Decent pay and some opportunities to work at home or just work on a project to project basis.

Cons

After you work on a project, you're at their mercy to wait to hear from them for another project offer.

Advice to Senior Management

Come back to Ann Arbor, Michigan please. Lansing is quite a distance.

Pros

Great if you're interested in media & publishing

Cons

IT group is too small, might be slightly disconnected from the rest of the company (although they were doing really well).

Pros

Large-scale market disruptions make for an exciting atmosphere for those who like to be a part of historical shift in educational technology.
An incredibly talented, intelligent, and dedicated workforce
Flexible work options, particularly accommodating for working parents of all ages
Back-up daycare, matching 401K, employee stock purchase plan, and great benefits all around
Employees care deeply about the quality of the product we ship, and share a passion for educational effectiveness.

Cons

I used to have a lot more cons here, but Pearson is actually working hard to rectify them. Most senior management have all risen up the ranks through sales, which has made some of them woefully unprepared to manage this shift towards hybrid print/software products. (Some have been more adaptable than others.) Internal leadership programs are shifts in organizational management will perhaps resolve this over time.

Pearson feels quite top-heavy from an organizational perspective. This often causes paralysis within the organization, along with a diffusion of responsibility and lack of clear leadership.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay higher salaries to attract top talent in technology. Push marketing beyond sales-support and be proactive rather than reactive. Stay calm and focus resources on what matters most to our customers. Stop making it so hard for managers to promote high performers. Fund innovation.

Pros

The company attracts many people who are committed to producing high-quality educational materials and their enthusiasm is contagious. The company also is willing to invest in continually improving products and responding to the market, so you feel like you're working on the "winning team." Also, many managers are supportive of flexible schedules and the company overall has policies to support work-life balance.

Cons

It's an enormous company and as a result there are some systems and processes that actually impede productivity. The culture makes it hard to move quickly and make necessary changes. Management sometimes errs on the side of trying to get consensus or make change democratically, when sometimes we might be better served by a more clear vision and an authoritative and speedy execution of decisions and organizational changes.

Advice to Senior Management

Management sometimes errs on the side of trying to get consensus or make change democratically, when sometimes we might be better served by a more clear vision and an authoritative and speedy execution of decisions and organizational changes.

Pros

While this is a large company there are many small teams that we interact with, and people have been there for many years, so there is a real sense of collegiality. Very nice people, none of the arrogance I've experienced at some of the start-ups I have worked at.

I work in systems, and they are very complex and it takes many months to sort things out. But the people involved are very patient, very smart, and very willing and ready to help out. Often people are located somewhere else, so there are lots of conference calls with people we may never meet.

I have years of experience and found there was real age discrimination with some of the companies I interviewed with - but not here. They welcome the experience, and there are many people my age or older here. A very nice change.

My manager is great, very knowledgeable, really cares about the team and doing a first class job. Just very, very busy, but still able to make time when needed.

I like this company and the people that work here.

Cons

It's a big company, so it has the downsides that come with that (lots of admin systems, sometimes hard to figure out who does what).

Pros

Clean environment, good hours for a part-time job.

Cons

Very demanding. You have to score a minimum number of assessments per hour, within an expectable range of accuracy, or you are fired.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more empathetic towards the scorers. They are under a lot of pressure and could use some encouragement and gratitude.