Keys to a Healthy Office Culture

Good office culture, despite being a hackneyed, almost cliché trope is in fact one of the most vital attributes of architecture firms, or any office environment.  While it’s sometimes hard to conceptualize, it’s even harder to build from the ground up with predictable results.  Here are some things PRAXIS3 does to foster a healthy, design-oriented office culture.  We’ve broken them up into 3 categories.

Invest in people

Our co-founding principal, Craig James, has always said the one attribute that makes PRAXIS3 so special is our people.  Investment in employees has remained a priority no matter how small or large the firm has become.  There are a couple reasons why this is important.

• Regular social events like a monthly Happy Hour, Lunch with Leadership, and the annual weekend mountain retreat, flatten social hierarchy and promote interaction between all levels of experience. 
• Continuing Education programs like our Friday morning presentations, technical and BIM training program, accredited lunch-n-learns and encouragement for attaining licensure strongly promote professional development.
• A hybrid work schedule of three days in office, two days at home, is a value-added benefit that gives time back to employees they might otherwise be commuting.  We’ve also found that we use our time in office more wisely, because our opportunity for in-person collaboration is limited.  

Invest in design

Most architecture firms of a certain size trend toward a studio structure which relies on specialization.  PRAXIS3 is unique in its insistence that to develop our people’s all-around design skills the best firm structure is a team-based model where everyone gets opportunities to gain experience throughout all phases of their projects.  To ensure this succeeds, PRAXIS3 promotes an environment where critical thinking can thrive.   

• Weekly office hours allow teams an audience with principals and technical staff to provide feedback on design challenges of various projects.
• Team Spotlights showcase the work of the other teams to the firm showcasing good design decisions, lessons learned, and providing a platform of design discussions.
• Occasional screenings of design-related documentaries and office-wide field trips to nearby jobsites promote the design-centered values of PRAXIS3.

Invest in community

Apart from our internally focused efforts, PRAXIS3 also sponsors and encourages participation in community outreach.  Not only do we have regular events we sponsor, but we also allow anyone to propose new community outreach efforts for consideration.  This empowers employees to promote causes they are personally invested in. 

• GT Scholarship
• Dressed
• ReFortify
• CANstruction
• ULI