Mar 31, 2016
IOWA CITY — Staff reductions continue at the Iowa City office of Pearson, the British educational publishing and testing company.
Pearson plans to lay off 57 employees within the next 30 days at its North Dodge Street office, according to a Workforce Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice filed Tuesday with Iowa Workforce Development. The company has employed as many as 1,400 between its Cedar Rapids and Iowa City operations.
The latest Pearson furlough follows the layoff of 62 employees in January. The company has said the layoffs are part of a plan to cut 4,000 jobs, or 10 percent of its workforce worldwide, throughout this year.
Pearson Chief Executive John Fallon, in comments to Reuters on Jan. 21, said problems in its markets, such as fewer people in the United States going to college, have been more pronounced and lasted longer than the company anticipated.
“We are taking immediate and decisive action to simplify the company, integrate operations and cut costs, all with the aim of getting Pearson growing again,” Fallon said. “I am very confident that we’ve made the right strategic calls and that will show so over time.”
Pearson has said the restructuring will involve combining divisions, such as its school testing and professional testing divisions in North America, to reduce back office costs.