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Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Engaged Employer

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill reviews

3.6

47% would recommend to a friend

(701 total reviews)

Managing Partners

56% approve of CEO

32% positive business outlook

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has an employee rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 701 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Skidmore, Owings & Merrill employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Construction, Repair & Maintenance Services industry (3.6 stars).

Reviews by job title

701 reviews
1.0
Mar 5, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I'll let you know when I have one

Cons

Overabundance of talented staff, however they aren't utilized, mentored, trained or valued. They have a yearly "Normalization" in which senior staff literally takes 3 days to put the pictures of all intermediate and junior staff on the wall (behind closed doors) and simply pick off the ones they don't like. Your reviews are based on opportunities you aren't given. They over-project workload, so they perform massive layoffs each Spring. You should know that they'll let someone capable go over someone who plays the corporate game.

1.0
Sep 10, 2018

Militaristic and Disengaged Leadership

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Prestigious and world-renowned reputation; Uber ride home and $18-limit for dinner (not much in 2018 in a CBD) when working over 10.5 hours/day. PM must approve prior; Global scope (work on projects all over the world); The SOM process is a highly rigorous and conscientious way to approach design that has been emulated throughout the design industry.

Cons

Toxic leadership that micromanages, overworks, underpays, and creates a hostile environment with strong implications for one's mental and physical well-being (I have witnessed regular, emotional breakdowns); Expectations and deliverables are not clearly articulated as leadership is disengaged and unable to lead; HR protects leadership at all costs (akin to a tenured professorship); No overtime pay for D-Levels and above, even though D-Levels do not make decisions directly related to their staffing; regularly told that I am underperforming while working back-to-back 50+ hour weeks; expected to be "on call" every weekend without pay; small number of people on each team who "carry" low-achieving colleagues and leaders alike; challenging to create a career as leadership is very top-light and infrequently transitions/retires (1300 person firm; 21 partners, only 3 of which are women); inflexible, archaic management and policies; benefits are below the industry standard and very expensive; Noted lack of professional respect for minorities, women, and LGBTQ employees; no or little professional mentorship and coaching; Pettiness between teams and leadership, resulting in lack of communication between stakeholders that falls upon juniors to resolve as PM's are uninvolved; Across the board, everyone is stretched too thinly to do their job properly and within a proper standard-of-care; reputation and history of the firm is leveraged to push employees to their limits.

3.0
May 10, 2021

Great for a year or two

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You have the chance to work on high profile projects for well known clients in great locations. From a technical design perspective, there are some of the world's best experts working in the planning and facade departments. Seek these people out and learn as much from them as you can; they are truly amazing.

Cons

During COVID, SOM will announce a policy of no raises and promotions for labourers and below. They will lay off 15% of the staff and increase the workload for labourers. However, management will continue to receive promotions, raises, and bonuses. Profits will still be drawn for the partners. In the next breath, leadership will state the importance of "equity" in workplace culture. When you get hired, you will be told there is no distinction between "design" and "technical" departments. However, there are design teams led by design managers and technical teams led by technical managers. Designers will never do construction administration and technical people will typically never do anything before DD. Designers will use Rhino/Photoshop/Illustrator and technical people will only use Revit and bluebeam. It is extremely difficult if not impossible to transition between these roles. If you ever ask a manager about these differences, they will say there is no difference between technical and design departments.

Viewing 7 - 9 of 701 Reviews

Glassdoor has 841 Skidmore, Owings & Merrill reviews submitted anonymously by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Skidmore, Owings & Merrill is right for you.