Pearson

When I first started working for Pearson, it was a family-friendly company. My manager was very supportive, and ensure I was on a career growth path. After a couple of years, once the lay off started to attack the company, things started to get worse, the supportive environment eroded, the benefits diminished, so by the time I was laid off I was actually happy that happened to me. I saw Pearson getting worse year after year.

My unit was sold off by Pearson several years ago, so this info may not apply.

Though locally, there were “boys clubs” in my unit, the global company was very fair and equitable in its treatment of women. A little networking to expand your visibility could overcome any bias in your immediate group.

Work/life balance was dependent upon your specific manager as there were high demands to be ready for the school year milestones. This was compensated for by flexibility around appointments and school events, but you were definitely asked to give more than you received.

I feel I was paid fairly at Pearson. As I worked my way up, I believe (can’t confirm) that I was paid comparably to my peers (mostly male).

I’m surprised by some of these reviews and would be curious where various people are located throughout the organization…Unfortunately I don’t doubt any of it, but it’s sad to see this in this day and age though.

My experience has been overall pretty good. I can’t speak too much on pay comparison, but I can say that I did take a rather large pay-cut when I came here. HOWEVER, the flexibility I’m given
almost makes up for it. I can work at home and can pretty much make my own hours- as long
as I get all my work done. My manager is great to work for, although seems to be pulled in 10 different directions at once. I was here a few years back as a contractor and was hit by lay-offs, so that is always is in the back of my mind and it seems like it’s a pretty steady theme around here….

Pearson has great work-life balance, but there’s an invisible divider between line managers and upper management. Pearson hires (mostly) men for senior positions, often from other sectors with no publishing experience, and executives have no clue as to what goes on beneath that glass partition. During the last five years of Draconian layoffs, execs fire swaths of workers without ever firing each other. The result is a huge management cost which in turn forces more layoffs. That said, it’s hard to get fired for incompetence since the folks down below try to protect each other. The company is going down and it’s sad to watch. Oh yeah, and we get three paid volunteer days each year.

I have never encountered so much sexual harassment and sexism. When sexual harassment situations were brought to management, women were called “hysterical” and when they were brought to HR we were told if we made a formal complaint then we’d find it harder to get promoted or receive raises. My own manager gives women the “housekeeping” work and blatantly stares at women’s chests, butts, or legs. Bringing it up gets a lot of people defensive and victim blaming constantly happens. The department lets men slack off and get away with awful behavior while women are punished for things like going on vacation, asking for flexibility for families, grad school, or doctor’s appointments even though we carry most of the workload (looking at project numbers it’s 3:1 in terms of volume by gender). With constant layoffs and hiring freezes, career advancement is a joke, and if it does happen, its by seniority instead of worth, so there’s a lot of promotions for people who are incompetent. Men in my department are also paid more and management tries to blackmail people asking about salaries because they don’t want to be outed.

Pearson is the most supportive environment I’ve ever worked in. Leadership continually recognizes teams for what we’ve done well. There is very little politics and everyone is so nice and helpful. I’ve worked here almost 3 years and was promoted within my first year. My boss wants to see me succeed and is an amazing mentor for my future.

Very enjoyable experience with Pearson who are always supportive and helpful. They take care of their freelancers and are always kind towards them.

Worst place I have ever worked in my life. I was bullied by the managers so much that I ended up taking a huge pay cut in another company just to get away and having to borrow money to cover my travel costs – but that was still better than staying there. Was treated like absolute crap, I would not work for Pearson again if my life depended on it.

We don’t have a transparent pay system so I cannot be sure if my wages are in line with my male counterparts. We have pay brackets that we know we’re in but don’t know whereabouts on the scale.