Great Place to Build a Long Term career
Pros
Office (while dated) is in a great location with views over Olympics and Rainer. Retail Practice is a great place to start and grow a career with young staff often given many opportunities to work on all phases of projects. Multiple career paths and relatively accelerated career growth for those with talent and entrepreneurial spirit. Lots of resources available: training, lunch and learns, education benefits. 401K Match for 3.5%. Central location good for transit, walking and biking. Many managers take active interest in their teams development and growth. Great Christmas Party, $2000 Education Benefit, pays for AREs and LEED exams. People who work there are very friendly and become a close community. There is a recent initiative to push for gender equity that has been well received and starting to change the conversation within the firm around this issue.
Cons
Merger with RTKL has been difficult, especially for legacy Callison staff who are used to being the HQ of the firm (now in Baltimore). The new management are poor communicators (lots of words saying very little). The merger resulted in a compensation system where adjustments don't keep up with inflation. Annual bonus for all staff and profit sharing program stopped after the merger. Not a great place for those who wait for things to happen to them rather than making their own path and putting in the effort to get to where they want to be.