Pros
- The office is nice and it is in a good location in Strand. - Free coffee all day and very relaxed office culture. - Everyone was extremely nice and friendly, and certain execs would make intentional effort to interact with employees and form connections. - Very good pension scheme, and other general employee benefits. - Andy (previous CEO, very sound guy) used to randomly walk around the office handing out free ice cream to everyone.
Cons
- There was never any budget for social events, and considering there was quite a big community of young people in the division, it was very disappointing to never really get the chance to network and just socialise. Other large corporate companies organise more extravagant formal events and even smaller quarterly events at the very least, but at Pearson we got "drinks in the park" and the occasional axe throwing. - They do not support the learning and development of their employees. No support and no allowance for employees' upskilling–a huge con, especially for juniors and people in more technical roles. Every time I requested that they purchase a £20 course for me to learn certain things relevant to my work, or approve the installing of a particular (FREE) programme/tech tool on my work laptop to learn how to use for my job, I was always told no. They supposedly never had the budget or the time to "waste" on even discussing this with me. I always felt like I was asking for crumbs and walked on eggshells knowing that I would have to present a strong case every time I was asking for something as simple as a short course or permission to install any tools. I was in a junior position, and constantly showed excitement about the role and the work and always asked to do more because I was hungry to learn. They quite literally cut your wings, which is so very sad, because any employer would be running at the opportunity to have someone so eager on board. Taking that into account, there was little to no career progression and anything related to my work I was proactive about doing, I was not supported at all.