The bedrock of corporate responsibility at Pearson is our company culture. We have a clear and simple set of values – in everything we do, we aspire to be brave, imaginative and decent.
These values are embedded in our Code of conduct which covers, among other things, the environment, employees, individual conduct, community and society.
Once a year, everyone working for Pearson gets a copy of our Code of conduct, either electronically or on paper. We ask them to read it, to confirm to the Pearson CEO that they have read it and understood it, and in doing so, to provide a check that the company complies with it. The code forms part of induction and an online training module is available. If anyone has concerns, they can raise them with a line manager or through a free, confidential telephone line/website.
An ethics website provides easy access to our Code of conduct in local languages and a secure way for people to raise and track issues of potential concern.
https://secure.ethicspoint.com/domain/media/en/gui/17545/index.html
Global Compact
During 2000, Pearson, along with other companies, signed a ‘global compact’ at the United Nations which sets out a series of principles on labour standards, human rights, the environment and combating corruption. In 2001 we put in place a series of commitments relating to the principles supported by ways to monitor our performance.
Each year, we submit a report on our progress to the United Nations describing how our guidelines reflect the UN principles and show the progress made against our key commitments.