interior designer

designer

architectural designer

architect

revit designer

DLR Group

What is the best part of working at the company?
100% Employee-owned, all staff have a stake in the company's success.  Stock increased in value approximately 15% a year during the 8 years I worked there before retiring.  As an architectural/engineering/planning firm they had a real focus on the quality of their project work.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Occasional communication issues between business sectors, multiple office locations.  All employees are expected to be productive and contribute value to projects.  Deadlines were sometimes difficult in order to meet client expectations.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Mostly open office workstations, limited number of private offices - typically business line management was located within workstation clusters.  Systems were well set up for Work from Home during the Pandemic;  still some flexibility in terms of required presence in the office.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Check in with other team members, see if there are any specific issues, get some coffee and get to work.  Periodically participate in team working sessions, feel free to discuss progress/status with other team members.
Typically have lunch break with other Office personnel, return to work on individual assignments.  Do an end of day status discussion with team leader, outlining work for the next week.

At the rate DLR has acquired multiple firms across the country, you'd be hard pressed to definite the firmwide culture.  Some regions tends to be much more progressive and open to change, while others resist.  Covid and the work from home model seemed to widen the gap even more between those that were "in" with managing principals, and those that weren't.  There is no consistent hybrid work policy yet, so it's up to you to figure out what's acceptable, without getting pushed out of the mix.  The firm hired a racial equity training consultant (which is great), but exposed the existing racial biases in current leaders. 
The rate of growth is a positive if you are young and have an entrepreneurial mindset.  That gets rewarded at DLR.  If you are an older architect or engineer, your experience is taken for granted.  They are pushing the research/data driven angle very hard, but that hasn't yielded tangible project results yet, and it only squeezes architects even more to fit a project schedule.

The best thing about working for DLR Group is the technology and ability to work from anywhere.  If you like working on huge school projects and don't mind good ol' boy bureaucracy, DLR Group is the place for you.  The culture is inconsistent between offices.  Management is a bit wishy washy, and leaders avoid making the hard decisions they are paid to make.  If you have a problem, there is a robust HR department that will lend a very professional ear, but it is unlikely that you will receive follow up or that your issue will be resolved.  To be successful at DLR Group you need a very go with the flow mentality...new ideas or ways of working that don't fit within the "framework" are not likely to go anywhere.  Being a Project Manager at DLR Group is difficult, with antiquated forms and paperwork, slow project set up, difficult project staffing, and dilapidated accounting system that makes everything harder than it needs to be.  

Marketing and developing the educational sector in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Coordination with other division sector leaders on a daily basis, leading weekly business development meetings, working directly with a marketing coordinator developing statement of qualifications for potential clients, pursue and track business leads, maintain contact with key clientele, coordinate, organize and represent firm at conferences, lead proposal and interview prep meetings for prospective new projects, represent firm at events and activities within the community, develop relationships with competing firms outside of the Kansas City boundaries, assist in bond consensus promotion.

DLR Group is a great place to be at - transparent in all aspects. Everyone here is great; open-minded and willing to listen and give their input. Leadership is everywhere here, the more you're involved the better - step out of your comfort zone (if you really must). Each design sector have great leaders all are friendly. 

The only downside is that DLR often takes on too much projects and it becomes a work-overload on everyone which ends up impacting not only the firm but also the indivudal, this had not happened to me, but it was very visible from others. It's also nice seeing others to become resilience to the work that they do because they are very passionate in the design that they do. 

Other than that, I personally think that salary is ok, but could improve - CEO is a great guy very kind, gentle and has great leadership. 

I have worked at four other architectural firms around the world for many years at each firm over the last 33 years, and DLR Group is the most supportive and well-considered structure and management out of all I have experienced. Employees are carefully selected based on deep skill sets and personality, and are very well managed, in my humble opinion. That combination results in great quality design and process for our clients, and a balanced life, mostly. Of course there are high pressure deadlines, like at any design firm, and that is understood across the board, so downtime is encouraged after those times. They want and need employees to stay.

DLR Group has allowed me to grow exponentially in my career.  I have been able to explore a multitude of project types and roles within the same firm.  We have an active, collaborative office environment.  We take the work seriously, but don't take ourselves too seriously.  As a relatively flat organization, we believe that great ideas can come from anybody and only through collaboration will the best ideas present themselves.  That being said, there is ample leadership and ownership opportunity, so employees all have skin in the game and we push ourselves to grow and succeed.

Leaders are good Architects and Engineers but lock-in leadership and team management.
Lot of key people are let go just to meet the bottom line but, the revenue actually will go south and little by little DLR will brake up.It is like nobody can see what really happens or, the leaders are hiding it very well from all senior CEO’s and other Regional and National-leaders.
A lot of revenue will be lost because of mistakes made by  new untrained employees and a lot of job redoooo equals, lost revenue and reputation.
DLR claims that it is Employees owned Company but it is not.

The associates have a say and vote on advancement but, no say or vote when a good associate it is let go.

The leadership and executive team prioritize profit over employee well-being. There’s a significant disparity in benefits across different offices. Commuting to the LA office, even if it’s just to work remotely with colleagues, doesn’t justify the lack of compensation. There’s no free or discounted parking, and meal compensation is minimal. To make matters worse, they’ve mandated a minimum of four in-office days per week. They’ve also refused to honor existing hybrid contracts that were in place before the new work model was implemented last year. In this industry, compensation is not competitive. The CEO talks a lot but doesn’t deliver on any promises. 

I enjoyed my coworkers very much.  There were interesting talks about things going on in the company (a lot of research projects), projects in design or construction, and other things.  Social activities were fun in and out of the office.  My benefits were fine, my pay was fine, got a few raises.  You get $50 on your birthday and on your work anniversary.  That's their bonus.  

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Interior designer 3 salaries reported	$63,100 per year
Designer 3 salaries reported	$96,333 per year
Architectural designer 3 salaries reported	$75,667 per year
Architect 3 salaries reported	$82,000 per year
Revit designer 1 salary reported	$29.50 per hour

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