A creative studio with talent and vision, but lacking care for its people. - Recensione dipendente - Dipendente anonimo presso AvroKO Design

1,0
1 set 2025
Dipendente anonimo
Consiglia
Gradimento del CEO
Pronostico commerciale

Vantaggi

• Exposure to incredible projects across hospitality design — hotels, restaurants and bars. • Highly talented teammates who bring passion and creativity. • Opportunities to collaborate with architects, consultants, and vendors on global projects. • Strong hands-on experience producing furniture drawings and full ID sets, as well as creating specification books.

Svantaggi

Leadership decisions often feel disconnected from the human impact. More than half of the Miami team was furloughed without severance or payout of accrued PTO — only given a letter on how to apply for unemployment and three months of paid insurance — on the same day the company was actively posting job openings in other locations. The furlough had been looming for months, and without meaningful support from leadership, it felt inevitable. a) Despite being part of a global studio network, the Miami office never received visits or direct engagement from company leadership. No representatives from corporate or HR ever established a connection with the team, which reinforced a deep sense of isolation and disconnection from the broader company culture. b) It took well over a year for leadership to address clear misalignment in local management. During that time, the lack of oversight and support made it feel as though the Miami office was being set up to fail. c) Compensation practices fall below industry standards. There are no consistent annual salary adjustments; employees typically wait more than two years for one. Staff are frequently underpaid while being asked to take on responsibilities well above their title. d) Bonuses were repeatedly promised, delayed, and ultimately canceled (for example, a December bonus was pushed to spring, only for the company to later announce it would not happen at all). This created widespread disappointment and distrust. e) Benefits administration was mishandled. 401(k) contributions required employee-initiated audits to correct. Employees also received letters from insurance providers warning that coverage would be dropped for lack of payment — despite premiums being deducted from paychecks. These issues were eventually resolved, but only after employees escalated them directly.

Esplora altre recensioni su AvroKO Design

5,0
12 lug 2024
Consiglia
Gradimento del CEO
Pronostico commerciale

Vantaggi

Lots of support and lots of opportunities to learn and grow my career.

Svantaggi

Just some general company growing pains.

1
1,0
29 mag 2025
Consiglia
Gradimento del CEO
Pronostico commerciale

Vantaggi

-amazing, talented and friendly colleagues -occasional interesting projects

Svantaggi

-Toxic culture from leadership: Inappropriate comments about maternity leave, pressure to sacrifice personal life for deadlines, and a dismissive “figure it out” attitude when staff are overworked. -Lack of empathy: Management openly admits they know staff are overloaded but provides no support. Employees are treated like numbers. -Systemic bias in promotions: There are employees clearly deserving of advancement who are repeatedly passed over in favor of less experienced — and often whiter — external hires. -Dishonest about compensation: Bonuses were promised and never delivered to staff, while leadership announced and collected their own bonuses and celebrated promotions/ profit shares. -High turnover: Within a year, the company lost two tenured female associates, two design directors, the CCO himself, and about 10 out of 20+ NYC designers. That should speak volumes. -Verbal abuse from clients ignored: Instead of supporting staff, management places blame on the team. -Disorganized HR: Constant changes to systems leave employees without proper insurance or guidance on critical issues like taxes and benefits. -Feedback is ignored: Leadership loves to paint a pretty picture, but meaningful concerns go unresolved and unacknowledged. -Declining project quality: The company increasingly takes on low-budget work by slashing bids and compromising on quality — just to get paid. This impacts morale, reputation, and the integrity of the work. This company fosters a harmful environment and is unwilling to make real change. Proceed with caution — or better yet, don’t.

6
avatar
Risposta di AvroKO Design
11mo
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We’re truly sorry to hear that your time at AvroKO didn’t meet your expectations. Feedback like this is difficult to read, but we believe it’s essential to listen with humility in order to grow as an organization and as individuals. We aim to foster a respectful, inclusive, and supportive culture at AvroKO. Any behavior or language that undermines that is not tolerated. If you experienced inappropriate conduct, we encourage reaching out to HR directly so that we can take appropriate action. Every report is taken seriously and reviewed with care. We understand that our industry can be demanding, and we are actively working to better balance project needs with employee well-being. While the workload can be intense, we encourage open communication with leadership, and we strive to provide support and resources wherever possible. Our decisions around promotions and advancement are rooted in merit, performance, and alignment with business needs—not in personal bias. We regularly review our processes to ensure they are fair and equitable, and we take concerns around equity seriously. Bonuses at AvroKO are not guaranteed and are based on both company and individual performance. We acknowledge that communication around this has room for improvement, and we’re working to enhance transparency so that expectations are clearer across the board. The past year brought some organizational changes and transitions, which did lead to turnover. While change is a natural part of any company’s evolution—especially in a creative field—we remain focused on building a stable, collaborative, and engaged team for the long term. We also expect our team members to be treated respectfully by our clients. When issues arise, we do not ignore them—we address concerns directly and work to protect our staff from inappropriate treatment. Over the past year, we’ve updated several of our internal systems and HR processes. While change can be challenging, we’re committed to guiding our team through transitions thoughtfully and with support. We value employee feedback deeply. It informs how we evolve—from policies and processes to culture and communication. While not every suggestion can be implemented immediately, we do our best to respond with thoughtfulness and transparency. We are incredibly proud of the work our teams produce and the standards we hold ourselves to. Despite changing market dynamics, we do not compromise on design quality or project integrity. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts. If you’re open to a confidential conversation, we’d welcome the opportunity to speak further. We remain committed to creating a workplace that values excellence, fairness, and humanity—and to growing in the areas where we still have work to do.
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