Creative work overshadowed by unpaid overtime and deadlines - Senior Project Designer Hirsch Bedner Employee Review

They have lots of great projects and a really great team.

The commute is getting longer The office is great but working in the city can get expensive if you're not careful

Company reputation, high profile clientele, great projects

HBA SF is not an office I would personally recommend to anyone below the Senior level. In my experience, it is an extremely high-pressure environment where junior staff are treated like expendable resources than developing professionals. Compared with other firms in hospitality design - and especially compared with firms in the commercial design sector - the learning and growth opportunities are significantly limited.   Professionally, mentorship was inconsistent and not something junior staff could rely on. Project assignments often lacked structure, and work was frequently shifted between team members without clear communication, creating confusion rather than efficiency. Leadership communication was also a major issue. Important decisions were often delayed and then delivered suddenly, with a “take it or leave it” attitude, leaving teams to absorb the consequences. Above all, pay is humiliatingly low under the industry standard, especially for this city.   There was also a strong sense of favoritism within the office. My former coworkers and I have either felt or witnessed patterns of racism and retaliation, though regardless of the cause, the result was an environment where support, opportunity, and respect did not evenly distribute. The management team was also very insular, and there was a troubling culture of gossip about clients, other firms, and even employees, often in extremely unprofessional and disrespectful ways out in the open floor.   On a personal level, I found the culture of the office deeply unhealthy. There was little to zero consideration for employees’ emotional well-being, especially junior staff. Leaders appeared primarily focused on meeting aggressive deadlines under constantly shifting expectations, while the burden of those changes often fell on the most junior team members. When deadlines became unrealistic, junior staff were the ones expected to absorb the pressure, including pulling all-nighters or working on the weekends, while overtime was not properly acknowledged (ex. forging hours on timesheets afterwards ).   The day-to-day office culture also contributed to the overall negative environment. Basic friendliness was lacking, even simple greetings like “good morning” were nonexistent. People were pressured to eat lunch at their desks, and casual conversations about hobbies, life, or anything outside of work often felt uncomfortable (I was once cold-interrupted by my senior designer amidst a 2-minute meet-and-greet with vendor rep, as well as a 1-minute coffee conversation with my coworker). I also witnessed and personally experienced unprofessional behavior in the open office, including interviews being conducted on speakerphone at a desk and senior staff lashing out at junior designers publicly over minor inconveniences.   It is unfortunate to write a review like this, but I believe it is important to be candid. The examples above are not isolated personal grievances; they reflect patterns I observed repeatedly and that affected multiple people in the office. I have also read other reviews of this specific office, and based on my own experience, many of those concerns are consistent with what I witnessed firsthand or heard directly from former coworkers. There are talented designers in this office but with such a poor years-long leadership and management, these people are truly exploited or are only exploiting employees under them. Overall, I would caution junior designers to think carefully before joining this office. For someone seeking mentorship, healthy professional development, clear communication, and a respectful workplace culture, this environment may be very difficult to grow in.