The company at its best is mediocre. The work in general is poorly managed and executed while their market rates are high compared with other firms. Big name, good facade but an empty bubble. If you are an experienced senior, you would be shocked on day one how overrated this firm is and probably day two, would plan your exit. I saw many left from different offices in the west coast - myself included- either for better placements or for sabbatical to just decompress and recover from Gensler trauma.
Quality of work? Majority of the projects are low-budget, design-build projects of developers, general contractors, and construction management companies that either partner with them or hire Gensler as a design consultant- meaning the firm is not prime on those projects most of the times. The main decision makers are outside of the firm pushing for their agenda. So you would be a coordinator and a drafting tool at its best- not an actual designer or architect. If you really want to practice and have a real career, stay away from this firm. Also Gensler is not suitable for architects in general. Except for a handful of decent architectural projects, most of them are interior design or renovation. Architects are reduced to only provide documentation sets with insane schedules and deal with permit processes.
Poor leadership firmwide. Most people at managerial levels and up to the CEO level are clueless and incompetent. They keep speaking to the crowd about their non-existent accomplishments and firm achievements- usually tossed into a word salad of trendy concepts (or checkmarks) like inclusivity, diversity, design excellence, synergy and so on- as if they are talking to two year olds. Yaaaaawn! Most of them don’t realize how ‘out-of-touch’ and ‘out-of-reach’ they are. They might speak with you and smile at you but in reality, they are not there. Only collect their pay and bonus checks and probably feel good inside, they are not you. A handful of them who are somewhat accomplished either don’t care or drink the Kool-Aid because they also like them some fat paychecks.
Are employees’ work and their presence valued? NAH! Unless you are a favourite- then even your ineptitudes and screw-ups are celebrated. Looking back, my most joyful moments were the December appointments for people who got promoted. A free red carpet show with a favoured bunch up on the stage and acting like Hollywood celebs. They tap each other on the shoulder for getting a bigger piece of the pie while the rest of the honest and hardworking employees who actually do the work, are supposed to cheer for them while getting only the crumbles. Recognition and career growth is an absolute joke in Gensler.
Culture? A typical boring corporate. Nothing exciting there. People barely speak with each other. Either too burned out or too bored- just biding their time until a better opportunity comes up.
