Still acceptable as a junior staff just after graduation - Recensione dipendente - Dipendente anonimo presso Integrated Design Associates

Dear Poster, Thank you. We wish to acknowledge your concerns and address your points, please know that you are heard and we are in the process of making changes where we can. As you know full well, internet access is restricted because we design important International Infrastructure projects, our data requires a higher degree of protection. If you have any suggestions please feel free to make them at our Project meetings, rather than coming on a public platform, work with us towards viable solutions. We are all too happy to take the conversation offline. On the topic of Salary, I wish to highlight you are making this post during the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Our Directors made a conscious decision to keep everyone employed rather than make cuts in the office (like so many firms during these difficult times) in lieu of pay-raises. As you mentioned the "nice colleagues", we intended to keep them gainfully employed to preserve what we believed to be a "content, sociable, group of colleagues", we make no apologies for this decision, because since this post IDA has made wage adjustments to all staff and we are recovering well from the pandemic. We don't market ourselves as a Western firm, in fact we barely market ourselves at all. Our only marketing are the buildings we design. We are surprised to hear that IDA practices local style micro-management. Perhaps you should talk to your peers who even at junior levels are self-managing their own projects to great success. The Principal and Directors are on hand to guide when requested and allocate much of their time to coach staff at all levels, please do not conflate micro-management with guidance. Your final point on PR I will address personally: we are a family office, and we would not have to be involved in PR on Glassdoor if your suggestions were brought to us and grounded in solution-finding rather than going on a public platform to voice your disapproval. We consider our involvement in management a positive response to the few comments we have received, ironically the damage we are salvaging are posts like these. Ex-employees leaving on bad terms is not our desired outcome, but is inevitable. We wish all IDA employees (present and former) gainful employment, work that suits them, and the best in the development of their career. We bear no ill-will towards ex-employees and hope they feel the same towards us. We hear your Advice to Management, and would like to develop trust and respect from both sides, so please feel free to reach out and suggest how we can trust and respect our employees better. Your recommendations are important to us as we continue to grow as a company.

Dear Poster, We would like to take this moment to address your concerns point by point: The financial health of a company does indeed rely on managers to manage not only the staff but also individual project finances. Our policies simply act as guidelines to prevent careless spending, so in fact the managers safeguard the Company's money, not the firm owners. Autonomy in handling tasks: IDA holds design to a very high degree, and like most other companies a Senior Architect, Director or the Principal will hold project reviews. If the design does not meet the expectations of the company or our client, we take the opportunity to mentor our staff. This degree of mentorship may seem like a lack of autonomy, however, it exists for staff to benefit from more experienced architects in pursuit of continual professional development. Following our recent Performance Reviews we wanted to focus more on the personal well-being of all staff. Much of it relates to the company policies, and discussing it helps us identify areas for improvement within the company, and IDA is continually trying to improve. Salary is reviewed and discussed with each individual's director based on performance, team work and dedication. Only after all staff have been reviewed will we adjust salary accordingly. The company does not see any member of staff as "sub-standard" if that were the case the staff member in question would be dismissed. Our salary scale is in line with HKIA guidelines. We note your concern regarding time spent in the conference room and will try harder to be more cognizant of time. We would like clarity on your point regarding the fairness or wisdom of our decisions. IDA has open forums twice a month designed to give staff a voice to express their concerns over the company's decisions. For future reference, please bring your concerns to your Director or HR so that we may address them in a constructive and mutually beneficial manner. We appreciate your feedback and hope that IDA can continue to improve. Kind regards, IDA