Great environment, but pay is low - VDC Specialist III Ghafari Associates Employee Review

1) Good health benefits 2) Getting good experience of different projects 3) Decent pay

1) Very tight deadlines always

One of the nicest office environments I've ever worked in. Given it has multiple international offices, it's certainly a successful company.

Some people have been intentionally misled about the 25% company match to employee 401K contributions, which has played a significant role in decisions to accept job offers. As it turns out, the 401K plan has vesting. Nobody actually receives 25% company matching until they've been there six years. We were deceived right from the beginning. Interestingly, of the values listed on their Sharepoint site, it's pathetically laughable that “Act with Integrity” is at the top. Nobody who deceived us acted with integrity, including the HR staff or the architectural department management. There's also mediocrity, everywhere, all the time within the architectural department and project management group. If you care about the pursuit of excellence on your projects, this is not the place for you. If I listed all the examples of the widespread mediocrity I witnessed, including those that were truly embarrassing, it would be two pages long. Such mediocrity would be unacceptable at other places I’ve worked. I'll admit Ghafari is a great place to work...for mediocre people looking for a place to hide in a corporate environment. Without a doubt, if you want to do serious architecture at a firm with high standards than don't bother working here. As for me, I simply expect better management, better drawings, better specifications and better project management. For any accomplished Architect, this company is a huge disappointment. Regarding Ghafari being named one of the best places to work in the Crains Detroit Business publication, I now know that’s a sham too. The truth is the marketing department sent an email to all employees at least four times practically begging us to fill out the survey. Shameful. Lastly, upon departing, they attempt to silence us with a heavily one-sided severance agreement that would indefinitely expose us to a spider web of legal BS and injunctions. No thank you. Somebody would have to be pretty dumb to sign such a thing. In summary, this company is strong in engineering and weak in architecture.