Progress and Plans
Valuing our people


Target 2008   Progress   Plan 2009
Accelerate our commitment to build a truly international business by helping more of our people experience a new country on a short-term assignment, with our developing markets as a priority. Achieved Achieved. We helped 67 people through New Directions in 2007 and increased that to 102 in 2008. Focus our international moves to develop our rising stars and create assignments that even more closely match our corporate priorities.
Show evidence of progress in retention of people with diverse backgrounds for both entry level and management positions. Achieved Achieved. In the UK, the percentage of staff from minority backgrounds rose to and increased that to 102 in 2008, over 14% in 2008, against 9% in 2003. 11% of Pearson UK management is from a minority group, of which 4% are in senior management. Since 2005, the minority representation in the US workforce has risen from 15.7% to 19.9% in 2008. Minority ethnic managers make up 12% of the Pearson US management team, up 2% from 2005, with senior management representation rising by 1% to 5% in the same time frame. The turnover of staff from minority ethnic backgrounds in the global ‘talent pool’ declined dramatically from 6.1% in 2005 to 5.4% in 2006, down to 1.2% in 2007. Show evidence of progress in retention of people with diverse backgrounds for both entry level and management positions by tracking the success of women, people from minority ethnic backgrounds and those with a disability within Pearson.

Develop more great programmes and relationships to attract talented people from the above groups into our business.
      New target New target. Increase our capacity to combine training opportunities for our staff with opportunities to partner with schools, colleges and not-for-profits.