ACT plans to shift paper-based operations

IOWA CITY - Over the next two years, educational testing company ACT gradually will eliminate as well as outsource some facets of the work done in one of the buildings on its Iowa City campus.

The move will affect 60 positions, many of which likely will be eliminated, spokesman Ed Colby said Wednesday.

Work done in the McCarrel Center, at 2727 Scott Blvd., part of ACT's corporate headquarters, primarily is focused on paper-based testing, Colby said.

'It's important to note this is a strategic decision, not cost-cutting,” Colby said. 'It's a situation where the work we are doing is changing, shifting from paper to digital.”

It is not yet known where the company will outsource its paper-based work, Colby said. The jobs affected also will not be cut all at once.

'The positions will be eliminated as work transitions,” Colby said. 'We informed team members (on Tuesday), and they're aware of this, and we've provided as much information as we can. We will be working with them as the transition moves along.”

Colby said some of those affected might be able to move into other positions within ACT, but those who cannot find new placements will be provided with learning development, training options and severance packages.

This is the second staff reduction the Iowa-City based company has announced in the past eight months. Last August, 80 positions were eliminated, which Colby said was more of a cost-cutting move.

'The 80 jobs in August was more of a way to streamline our business. This is a strategic move,” Colby said.

About 1,200 people work on the ACT campus, Colby said.

ACT is not the only educational testing company to experience staff changes. The Iowa City office of Pearson, a British-based company, earlier this month said it planned to lay off 57 employees in the next 30 days at its North Dodge Street office, according to a Workforce Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice filed with Iowa Workforce Development.

The company has employed as many as 1,400 people between its Cedar Rapids and Iowa City offices.

The latest Pearson job eliminations follow the layoff of 62 employees in January. The company has said the reductions are part of a plan to cut 4,000 jobs, or 10 percent of its worldwide workforce, this year.