Thread regarding Pearson PLC layoffs

Pearson closed the Lincoln St office in Boston which was the replacement for Boylston St. Said everyone wanted to work from home. Quite possibly.
Sl--e move was that there had been a contest to make a video of your local office to win lunch if you said how great your office is. 50 videos submitted. Boston was 1.
Within a days time 49 videos are posted. One, Boston had disappeared.
No lunch for them. It's like they never existed. Poof!

Any idea how many Pearson employees remain in Boston?
Or "working" in Massachusetts remotely?

I hated the "open plan office".

How many hundreds of millions of dollars did those id--t boomers waste on trying to look hip and cool while ruining our focus with endless distractions?

At one point Pearson occupied five floors at 501, along with space on Arlington. Eventually Arlington went away. Then five floors shrunk, along with the cafeteria, mahogany corner offices, any offices, and private space in general. The open office plan was miserable and certainly contributed to fewer people going into the building. I want to say it was a floor and a half when it closed for good, but I'm not sure because I avoided going in.

You can bemoan the money all of it used to cost, as well as the long lunches, and fake Fridays. I get it. It was excessive, but it was also a product of the publishing industry in general. Just as Pearson swung too far in the direction of becoming a technology company without knowing what they were doing, so too they moved away from the publishing work culture without maintaining some fringe benefits for employees that make somewhere somewhat tolerable to work.

@1otl+1madrlI7 One specifically used to love to go to afternoon movies to while away the time....This is not a guess.

Thanks for the confirmation. I remember the muckety-mucks were so proud when Pearson moved into that space. They would hide in their huge mahogany corner offices or behind office doors, totally inept about the product or technology. Long lunches, Back Bay shopping, "scamming out" at 3:00pm. Nothing lasts forever.

1. This happened around a year ago, if not more. The footprint there had been shrinking for years. Most people working there were hybrid wfh/in-office even before the pandemic. The pandemic really made the office unnecessary. There is a WeWork space available in the South End for remaining employees (many in Boston have been part of cuts over the years).

2. @jwa+1madrlI7 Execs hadn't been "dropping tons of company money on expensive dinners and wine" in Boston for years. You're out of touch, which wouldn't be that bad if you weren't so miserable with your attitude.

Wow. I’m sure high end restaurants around Boyleston are feeling the pain of not having execs dropping tons of company money on expensive dinners and wine. Not to mention their nooners with their on the side girlfriends at the Four Seasons. Definitely end of an era!