interior designer

project architect

senior project manager

designer

architectural designer

Perkins Eastman

When I was hired no one mentioned anything about a probation period and gave me a lot of benefits such as 401K and health benefits and told me to enroll. If I previously knew that I was on a probation period I wouldn't have joined the benefits until given a confirmation that I was an employee. 3 months later they said "I didn't fit in there" and take my stuff and leave. Throughout the entire period I was never told anything about my progress or any improvements I could make. When I asked why, they didn't have an answer for me. I was also told that my insurance will be terminated at the end of the month which only gave me 5 days to try and find another health insurance. Which I couldn't find and had to wait almost a month without health insurance.  

Some people there are favorable and if your supervisor (not all) likes you she/he will give you a project/ work to do, if not, tough luck. I worked on a few projects with one of my supervisors and things went very well but when I came to gather my belongings and told him I was leaving, he was very surprised and asked me why and even I didn't have an answer for that. He was very disappointed that I was leaving, especially when we were in the middle of ongoing projects.  

I would not recommend Perkins Eastman to anyone unless your willing to suck-up to your supervisor. They struggle to retain talent, and some good folks fall through the cracks while a few divas soak up the attention of leadership.

Mondays required updating a staffing spreadsheet so that projects were covered if one of the assigned architects was on vacation or leave. Many tasks came up spontaneously that required attention and action immediately. Twice during the month, projects were reviewed to assess profits and losses and adjustments to the number assigned personnel and invoices required adjustments. Determinations about the fiscal value of potential projects had to be evaluated. Contracts and agreements for international clients had to be processed and a host of lesser administrative tasks had to be addressed. There were a few occassions when I offered my services to the marketing and accounting departments during infrequent periods of downtime. There were a variety of personalities there. I sometimes had difficulty obtaining information about various projects from the individuals involved but most of the people that worked there were very personable, interesting and at times, amusing.

What is the best part of working at the company?
It’s close to the train. There is indoor parking. 
They offer pet insurance, but it’s less expensive through Costco. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Favoritism. If you’re a favorite you’ll be fine. If you’re not, watch your back. 
They have an inefficient leadership. 
Their tag line is “Human by design” 
They should change it to “Inhuman by design” 
They micro mange some people but not everyone. They have extremely high turnover. 
It is a hostile work environment. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It’s a tense environment. The people are not overly friendly. 
The culture is bizarre. They talk the talk but don’t walk the walk. 
They will observe things like Earth week, indigenous people, pride etc. 
They will have company wide events that you’re expected to attend, however most of the time you have to put the time to overhead. 
Their benefits are very expensive. They take and take more away from the employees all the time. However, they expect employees to deliver more. 
They don’t seem to understand employee support and retention.

I know many people who are happy working in the Connecticut office location. I believe the happiness levels vary by studio. There's little to no cross over between studio. Therefore making it difficult to avoid clicks or subgroups which form in the office. Additionally, there's drastic differences between teams - the success or smoothness of a project is too often reflected by the attitude of project manager.

What is the best part of working at the company?
some nice people, decent benefits

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Boring position, due to the selling of the company current directors had no knowledge of how administration and accounting were handled.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Conservative, robotic, old-fashioned

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Trying to keep myself busy, so I didn't lose my mind with boredeom.

The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. Too big and unruly. Firm has no standards and varies wildly from job to job and office to office in quality & consistency. Some people are great but the leadership is old and out of touch. The firm promotes people too fast who are undeserving but are ‘picked’ as principal favorites with no basis in actual ability. Technical ability is woefully lacking.

Most people are nice to work with, and there are some good professional support if you know where to look. Good work life balance and you usually won’t have to do much overtime. There are a lot of learning opportunities but again you have to look and ask constantly. Health insurance is mid at best, it is very head heavy and not much fancy design like you would find in some other companies. 

Perkins Eastman is a large company still run by mom and pop. At times this greatly streamlines decisions and makes the company feel more tuned into to its staff. At other times, things feel as though they could be more professional and less emotional.

What is the best part of working at the company?
great depth of resources globally

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
small-minded management who deflect responsibility and resist change

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
great for minorities and LGBTQ+

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
petty politics and professional paranoia

The most boring job ever.  No one knew anything about new corporate procedures.  A waste of 1.5 years of my life.  Managing principal was a nightmare.  No one stayed there long.  It appeared to be a clearing house for recent college grad who would leave as soon as they could.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Interior designer 3 salaries reported	$75,190 per year
Project architect 4 salaries reported	$97,728 per year
Senior project manager 3 salaries reported	$106,847 per year
Designer 3 salaries reported	$66,833 per year
Architectural designer 3 salaries reported	$73,833 per year

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