HKS reviews

The Denver office is undergoing a leadership change, and it's not necessarily a good one. A married couple is taking over as a team to be the new office directors; two people who have barely been at the company for a year. They express no interest in the "one firm" concept that HKS advocates, and treats it as if the Denver office is under their ownership alone. They also both possess many negative characteristics such as defensiveness, dishonesty, unprofessionalism, disrespectfulness, hostility, can be confrontational and demanding, and have a disregard of people's personal lives. The firm claims to aim for the "whole architect" but yet has specific designers, specific drafters, CA personnel, etc. They also might listen well to people's request to work on this or that, but action is rarely taken to please employees, especially at lower levels. HKS is more likely to do a strategic hire rather than promote within, so chances for advancement in the company seems unlikely. Yearly salary increases are similar or lower than inflation. Promotions are based on voting from within your office, so if you work primarily with other offices, your chances are lower.

Employees consistently try to push positive change but leadership doesn’t follow through leading to a general atmosphere of confusion and distrust, work life balance doesn’t exist for most, culture still needs a lot of work.