People and Culture
We are committed to a workplace where all employees are empowered to contribute, grow, and do their best work. That commitment shows up in the choices we make every day.
We celebrate and honor the dignity of every individual as well as the collective sum of our wide range of experiences and perspectives. This includes differences in race, ethnicity, culture, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, age, physical abilities, veteran status, religious beliefs, academic background, professional experience, and many other lived experiences and perspectives.
We bring these voices together by creating an environment of respect, belonging, and growth, which in turn strengthens our ability to connect with our clients and the communities we serve in meaningful ways.
Building a workplace that supports this has been a focus since our founding in 1985, and we recognize this is ongoing work. Guided by staff input and a range of perspectives, we focus on:
Staying accountable and transparent.
We are data-driven in both our technical work and our approach to creating a workplace where people can do their best work and grow professionally. With support from our internal Advisory Council, we gather employee feedback, encourage open dialogue, and identify opportunities for improvement.
We track and review a variety of workforce and workplace metrics, including employee ratings of how well the firm exemplifies our core values, recruiting and retention trends, workforce composition relative to industry benchmarks and the communities we serve, and pay equity analyses. These insights help us evaluate the effectiveness of our practices, support professional development opportunities, and maintain a fair, positive, and high-performing work environment.
Continually assessing our progress.
We regularly revisit how we attract and retain talent, working to broaden our outreach to qualified candidates and ensuring consistent and fair evaluation processes. We track recruiting statistics to ensure our practices reach the best and most qualified candidates and routinely reevaluate our recruitment strategies for continual improvement.
Connecting our people.
Staff have multiple avenues for mentorship throughout their careers through both individual one-on-one mentoring programs and employee-led peer mentoring groups focused on professional growth and development. We invest in regular training on effective communication, collaboration, and conflict management, empowering our staff with practical tools to lead well.
Building fair practices into our projects from the start.
When we start a project, we aim to ensure the whole community is heard, not just the loudest voices. We work alongside our clients to develop strategies to engage a broad range of stakeholders and community perspectives throughout our project work.
Welcoming honest conversation.
We encourage open, respectful dialogue with our employees, clients, and partners about how we approach this work. If you’re curious to learn more, we’d love to hear from you.
Connect with us.