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Myefski Architects

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Myefski Architects Reviews

3.6

67% would recommend to a friend

(18 total reviews)
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John Myefski

81% approve of CEO

68% positive business outlook

Myefski Architects has an employee rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 18 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Myefski Architects employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Construction, repair and maintenance industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

18 reviews
2.0
9 Apr 2016

Unimpressed

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Myefski keeps decent hours as far as architecture firms go. The architects are mostly friendly and collaborative. There were occasional fun group activities.

Cons

The work the firm does it largely bad student housing for large developers. The owner was very misleading about this in my interview, in their marketing, and website. The office morale was always very low due to the quality of work being produced. Coworkers were constantly talking about how bad the projects and clients were. The owner also contributed to a depressing work environment. He was rarely there, but when he was he was kind of a bully. He was frequently very derogatory, much more than just being critical. The way he treated employees on a day to day basis made any company activities feel fake and forced. If you are comfortable taking zero pride in your work, being undervalued, and underpaid then the firm might work for you. I personally couldn't take working so many hours on such awful buildings. I would not show anything I worked on here to a future employer.

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Myefski Architects Response
8y
Thank you for the feedback. We value knowing how employees--past and present—feel about working at our firm. It’s important to continuously improve the work environment at Myefski Architects, and your feedback helps us in that pursuit. As shown on our company website, the firm’s portfolio includes many student housing projects. We understand you were not interested in this type of work. However, our staff regularly express excitement and engagement when working on these projects. Further, we work hard to accurately represent our firm’s portfolio. And, we think it’s important for our staff to have opportunities to be creative outside the typical project restraints. For us, these opportunities come in the way of competition participation. By pursuing competitive architectural commissions we change up the day-to-day and finds news ways to express our ideas. We regret to hear that you felt the office had low morale. Although every design firm has times of high pressure during deadlines, our team does not exhibit low morale. In addition to enthusiasm toward the firm’s project work, our team routinely enjoys each other’s company. From our monthly happy hours and company outings to grabbing lunch as a group, our staff shows high morale. The Owner is frequently out of the office to meet with clients, attend project meetings, and visit job sites. His feedback and/or criticism is meant to be constructive, not derogatory. All employees are encouraged to express their opinions, concerns, complaints using a variety of methods – informal meetings, performance reviews, anonymous suggestion box, etc. Our firm offers a great compensation and benefits package including competitive salaries, bonuses, paid time off, health and dental insurance, transit benefits, and much more. Staff members are allowed a flexible start/end time each day in addition to early release on numerous Friday afternoons throughout the summer time. Thank you, again for your feedback.
1.0
29 Jan 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Location Commute Building features Near Chicago River Lots of restaurant options

Cons

Management, both mid and senior pay very little attention to their employees, and the attention they do give is more negative and demoralizing than anything. Outside educational opportunities (seminars, free online training etc.) is little to non-existent. Professional adults should be trusted enough by senior management to complete their tasks, not be treated like a child or a mentally handicapped person by being endlessly micromanaged to the breaking point. Lastly, there's an overwhelming negative stigma within the office, as if the staff is simply there to collect a paycheck, and not happy to come to work. In the time I was there, I felt like I was walking on eggshells around the staff and the office from day one. The staff, minus a select few came off as prickly when I was introduced to them, and as a result, I was afraid to ask any questions.

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Myefski Architects Response
5y
It is unfortunate that your employment takeaway is negative. As you were employed with our firm less than a year, training was well underway and not nearly complete. Many marketing responsibilities require strict adherence to rules and regulations, so it is of utmost importance that this is being emphasized during training. Depending on each person’s background and/or experience, training may be more in-depth and involve check-ins. However, the ultimate goal is always to position employees to work independently whenever possible. To support such self-management, all marketing duties have written procedures so that staff members have additional resources to bolster their hands-on training experiences. While our scheduled continuing education does focus on design related topics, all staff are welcome to share continuing education opportunities or topics of interest. The firm has several tutorial subscriptions that assist with this endeavor. Our employees are most certainly not just a ‘number’. We respect each team member and appreciate what they bring to the table. And, feedback given is always intended to be constructive and to provide ‘insight through hindsight’. Considering that 60% of our staff has been with the firm for 5 years and more, we think this underscores the fact that our office culture is ideal for go-getter top performers who want to do meaningful, satisfying work. We do, however, work in a fast-paced environment and understand that this may not be a good fit for every personality type.
1.0
30 July 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Nice office at Wrigley Building.

Cons

I left this company because they don't value their employees and treat them as robots! You can barely express your ideas, neither about your ideas nor your problems and needs. You do not exist as a person, you are just an employee who has to work and all these come from very poor management of the CEO and the HR department! I do not recommend this place to anyone who wants to be respected as a person and grow in their career! I believe that is why most employees leave this company after a year or two, no one wants to stay here for a long term.

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Myefski Architects Response
5y
We regret hearing that you have left MA feeling unvalued. This is not at all how we would want anyone to feel. We do our best to give everyone an opportunity to be heard and express their opinions, ideas, and feedback. Staff get an ‘official’ opportunity to do so during their annual reviews (newer staff have an additional review after six months of employment). In the interim, staff are always welcome to reach out directly (or via an anonymous ‘suggestion box’) if there is anything they’d like to discuss. We also give our employees the opportunity to voice their concerns each week during our townhall workpower meeting. It’s a personal choice deciding to leave a firm after working with the team for less than six months, but we understand the firm’s design values and work ethic didn’t match expectations. We are not sure where your turnover data comes from, but the majority of our professional design staff has been with the firm for more than four years. Further, we consistently welcome new junior staff for internships and fellowships that have set periods of time; this is not turnover, but rather our investment in the future of our profession through the use of practical experience. The vast majority of our interns work for us between their undergraduate degree and their master’s degree. This means that all of our interns will be leaving us to go back to school.
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Glassdoor has 19 Myefski Architects reviews submitted anonymously by Myefski Architects employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Myefski Architects is right for you.