Left Pearson 15 years ago, and left the industry after that, but I'm following the Pearson news because I have friends who work there. It's hard to believe what the company has become. It was once the proud, #1 publisher of textbooks. While not perfect, the culture was supportive, with a tendency to promote from within. Upper Saddle River office was a fantastic place to work if you prefer a suburban environment to the soul-crushing grind of commuting into a city. IMHO the trouble started when editors were given insane signing goals. In the division I worked for, questioning your signing goal was like signing your death warrant. We were forced to acquire and publish more books than the reps could possibly sell (or that the market wanted). So much time and money spent on failures, when we should have been choosing the franchises in which to invest money and other resources (including sales force time). RW, a particularly awful manager who somehow survived waves of layoffs, presided over those ridiculous signing goals, and despite a quiet exterior is actually a very vicious man. Editors (as they were called at the time) knew they were building a house of cards - and the industry didn't do itself any favors but not sticking up for itself when bookstores starting accusing "publishers" of being responsible for the atrocious bookstore markups. There was greed, too -- anyone remember Pearson's mantra of "double-digit growth, or else?" Everything I read says that students still want printed books, they just don't want to pay giant sums for them. All the indicators of that were there 15-20 years ago, but nobody wanted to listen. And if you spoke out against price increases -- (sound of throat being sliced open from behind by RW). For anyone who is planning to leave the industry, I can offer words of encouragement. It may take some time to find a comparable job, but they are out there, and more and more companies are realizing that they need seasoned, mature professionals instead of millennials who are high on confidence but low on competence. And when you DO get your new job, you will be amazed at how reasonable your workload is, compared to what you do now. I don't know a single person who left Pearson/college publishing who isn't happier now. All these memes say "It starts at the top" -- and it's true. Pearson's managers have consistently worked in their own interests, managing up to ensure their own bonuses. It's sad to see such behavior affecting so many quality people. Good luck, everyone; but there's a pot of gold at the end of this particular road, even though it may not seem that way right now.
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LTIP is long term incentive plan. They give you a few hundred shares to stick around until a plan activation date. VP's and Director's get more naturally.
Yes, I know of a number of people who received 20+ thousand $ on the AIP. Happened about 3 times.
The good thing about LTIP and AIP is that you're considered an employee of good standing when let go and offered a severance package.
AIP is annual incentive plan. Its what EVERYONE will be on soon replacing SIP because JF, KC, JM, JT and NO all hate sales (RB is on her way out) and they are the new ‘old boys club’. June 4 baby!!
I am interested if anyone, aside from one of the aforementioned d-bags, has ever received an AIP over twenty grand. Doubtful.
I haven’t received any word as a field rep but hoping we know soon. What’s AIP and LTIP? I’m hoping I get the call and whatever it is the offer because this environment is awful!
Good luck to you in your future endeavors. I was let go recently after 20+ years and like you, with nothing but great perf reviews. You are right in that they are letting many knowledgeable people go and expecting to support and provide state-of-art products to customers.
I think the writing is on the wall for Pearson. Google could eat their lunch if they wanted. Would be a bloodbath. Unless Pearson can partner with them more than they are currently. I do hope Pearson can give a near term perception of a sound strategy, so I can sell the SPP shares I've accumulated over the years at a better price.
I'm not bitter. Was going to retire in a year anyway. Severance package - pay, vacation payout, AIP, LTIP, subsidized HC, is great. With cash double dipping, socking away money to pay for healthcare until I turn 65. Looking forward to the next phase of my life.
Wish you the best.
Recently let go after 25 years in editorial, and I'm fine with it. I probably hung on a few years too long anyway. I've had noting but great performance evaluations over the years, and been involved with many successful, high profile projects and yet- they finally came for me.... It's hard to understand how - year after year- they can push so much talent our the door, continue to treat their customers and authors just terribly, consistently fumble their digital strategy, sell off assets, yet they expect to succeed. Maybe the senior leaders are smarter than I, and this is all part of a master plan that will pay off someday, but its seems pretty clear that the once powerful and iconic brand has become a toxic mess.
Adios Pearson, thanks for twenty of the best years of my life, and a kind "up yours" for the 5 worst. Bring on the severance!
My first year on the job as an Acquisitions Editor my manager actually told me to bring blank contacts to a conference. We signed maybe 30 projects a year, most of them never went beyond the initial proposal stage. Authors were left to write with little support or direction. The few that did were pushed through the editorial process with very little “development”, we blindly sampled them to the market, sent the “red army” out to close adoptions, created all kinds of “valu-pak” upsell opportunities to reduce attrition, we “customized” everything , even if the customization was a only new cover, and a cheaper price, we hastily force fed MYLabs into every course area without any consideration about the customer, we bought and sold businesses,(eCollege, Nook, Embanet, ) without a real strategy about what to do with them, we raised prices 6% in the fall and 5% in the spring, bonuses were paid on gross sales, cozy relationships with distributors led to end of year shenanigans like quantities of product leaving our warehouse in Dec, only to be returned in Jan, uncapped bonuses. Life was good, but anyone paying attention knew that that was not a sustainable business model.
In many ways we’re still chasing a unicorn, a different one. The market has declined, there are new business models and disruptive competitors, and what k--ls me is that many of the Senior leaders who made the mess, are still in charge.
It was MS who started the "double-digit growth" mantra, so yes, a finger is pointed at her, too. And what's wrong with finger pointing? It certainly wasn't the sales force, content group, or production group that made all of these bad decisions.
Funny how everyone wants to point fingers. I see so much blame going right to the top with JF. But NO mention of his predecessor MS. Seems to me that she made some c-ap decisions and got out before the results posted.
JT didn’t fall far from the RW tree.