Q&A With OMA*AMO ARCHITECTURE Employees

Management needs to set clear expectations that are sustainable - presumed all nighters and consistent long hours are not.

As OMA grows bigger and takes on executive architect roles (DD, CDs), there needs to be more structure to the firm.

Firm culture is not sustainable. The employees that do endure it feel a false sense of entitlement. The firm doesn't owe you anything.

Morale is low. The pay is not good. The hours are long. The fringe benefits do not make up for it. People run themselves into the ground.

For design positions, interviewers will typically ask an applicant to present 1-2 major projects, explaining their contributions, skills, and expertise. Apart from that, it depends on how the conversation goes.

Fast-paced, Intense, collaborative, progressive.

PTO, sick days, health insurance, 401(k) with matching, and few other fringe benefits.

It is generally very casual, unless a client is visiting.

There are usually two interviews before an offer is extended.

The office has gotten a lot bigger in the past couple of years. The staff has almost doubled, but the space has not. The greatest difficulty is too few desks, and not enough space / storage per desk.

I would institute a more strict business hours policy, limit late-night hours unless absolutely necessary, and slightly restructure the workflow of the typical day. Teams tend to meet later in the morning or early afternoon, which means the first half of the day is oftentimes not very productive.

Overall, everyone hold great admiration for Rem, the co-founder and CEO of the company. Locally, opinions about the directing partners of the New York office vary widely.

The hours tend to be extreme for designers, which is typical for this type of high-profile architecture firm.

Occasionally, depending on the specific needs of a given project.

There are annual performance reviews, and promotions are typically considered at this time.

Compared to most US companies, OMA has an excellent paid time off policy, because it is consistent with the European standards of headquarters.

Most teams are awesome with the exception of a few bad apples.