Run far far away, as fast as you can - Interior Designer bei workshop/apd: Mitarbeiterbewertung

I've had an excellent experience at Workshop. When I was having trouble working with a difficult manager, they were very open to addressing my concerns and found an appropriate role for me elsewhere in the firm. My current manager is lovely - I receive clear direction and kind, constructive feedback. My role requires frequent interaction with the firm's leadership team and I've found them to be generous, kind, and open to feedback. They obviously care very deeply about their work and taking care of their employees. They are dedicated to rewarding performance, which shows up in generous annual bonuses and consistent salary raises. The culture at Workshop is also very strong. The firm is very clear about their values and actively strives to meet them. There are always a ton of events going on sponsored by the firm, like happy hours, trainings, vendor events, parties, and team outings. The staff seem to enjoy working together and are great at welcoming new team members.

Designers tend to work long hours around deadlines, but that seems pretty standard for the industry. I've heard from colleagues that some project leaders are more difficult to work with than others.

The junior staff all seemed super cool and welcoming, and the office itself was really nice and in a great location. I also thought the projects were strong

The biggest downside, in my opinion, was the overall office culture. While the junior staff themselves were generally nice, very few of them actually seemed happy. I worked in Studio 1, and there was a noticeable level of fear surrounding the studio leader. I genuinely have never heard so many people openly talk about feeling verbally mistreated by a manager, yet no one seemed comfortable enough to address it directly. It also definitely felt like a boys’ club. The office was outwardly LGBTQ-friendly, but leadership was primarily, if not entirely, white men, and the dynamic reflected that at times. The work-life balance was also rough. The project manager I worked under regularly expected people to work at all hours with little warning. It was common to receive non-urgent assignments late on Friday afternoons that were suddenly expected by Monday morning. There did not seem to be much respect for personal time or the idea that employees have lives outside of work. From talking to others, it sounded like experiences varied somewhat depending on the project manager, but everyone working under the manager I had seemed consistently unhappy. Overall, I would not recommend the office based on my experience, and the general atmosphere felt unusually negative and burnt out.