CallisonRTKL reviews

Transparency: There is really no support for individual growth for people really wanting to be contributors to the firm. In the studio where I was employed people were laid off at will if projects were no longer there. I had a lot of talent to offer but felt that if I am not constantly meeting unbelievable project timelines, I had no business being part of the firm. I actually got disciplinary letters from HR stating that I had to make drastic improvements with both speed and quality. NO respect for work life balance: Putting 50 to 60 hours at the firm with coming in the weekends to work is part of the firm life. NO additional compensation, you are expected to dedicate. I understand that in a bigger firm competence is the number one value and strong point, but when you are forced to compete against the others so that you stand out all the time, it literally puts the others to the dust.

Blame culture is the company culture. Instead of working through design ideas, people step all over each other to get ahead. There’s only a handful of great people in upper management. Teams are poorly managed and those in middle management are on total power trips. When they can’t deliver what they promised, they blame the people working for them. I witnessed a senior associate VP blame the design being rejected by a client on a junior designer. JUNIOR DESIGNER! Very poor work life balance and if you want a family, this will not be a good place to be a parent. I have seen harassment of pregnant women, parents being chewed out for needing to take time to take their kids to the doctor, etc. Overall, it’s one of the worst places I’ve ever worked at.