Mostly Great People, Vile Upper Management - Anonymous employee Pearson Employee Review

3.0
Aug 27, 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

* I have a good work-life balance, although other disagree. * The benefits are quite good: Health care with PPO options, Dental, Vision, Flex Accounts for Health and Commuting, 21 PTO/VAC days to start, Tuition Reimbursement up to 12 credits annually, 2 WFH days per week, some paid maternity leave through disability (8 weeks?). * My group is very family friendly and generally very supportive of their colleagues. * The new CFO, who came from Penguin, seems transparent and has a good track record. * Some offices, including mine, are gorgeous and well-located. * I am not micromanaged, and am treated extremely well. I am giving Pearson 3 stars, not 2, for this reason. * Though not everyone in middle management is as qualified as they should be, they generally do work hard. (Most people would be better qualified if they had access to targeted training opportunities.) * The staff in Poland are really amazing. * There are still some really talented people who work here.

Cons

*Really bad upper management. I mean really bad. An SVP was recently asked about our group's mobile strategy and had no answer. *In my group, no one in upper management, expect maybe the Managing Director, seems to have any quantitative aptitude. Also, no one knows what they actually do. * We're told to outsource, but no one has given us a good reason why. The quality of the outsourced work is usually poorer, especially with the larger vendors, and outsourcing often costs MORE money than doing the work in-house. *Dinosaurs galore. To be clear, there are plenty of talented employees of all ages, but simply too many whose skills sets have become obsolete and who refuse to adapt. The dinos are often promoted for political reasons, though, and then...can't do the job well... * Not many people understand what goes into making quality products. * Too many initiatives that go nowhere. You can literally sign up to be "Champion" for just about anything. * Despite our size, we somehow don't have enough data. * Salaries are not great, and raises this year were 1%, although a few people did get larger, merit-based bumps. *Constant reorgs have made projects hard to finish, job responsibilities unclear, and have lowered staff productivity and morale. * Also thanks to the re-orgs, some people have washed up in positions for which they're not qualified. This puts additional strain on those of us can actually do the work well. * The skills you'll gain/use working on projects may not be desirable, or even relevant, on the open market. In some ways, this is the worst point of all, as your skills will not be transferable and you may have a hard time getting another job.

Explore other reviews about Pearson

5.0
Apr 22, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Smart people, supportive environment and good benefits

Cons

Tight deadlines and it gets busy at times

2.0
Jun 11, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

When a project goes according to plan you can work with some great people and make decent money.

Cons

Bad behavior is tolerated when you have a weak team member. They are allowed to remain on payroll, even if they do not effectively contribute. The burden is often placed on the team members willing to pick up the slack. Promotions are not given to the most qualified. They are randomly assigned. There are some horrible scoring directors as a result.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All