Pros
Benoy is well known in the market and tries to position itself as a market leader. It's a moderately useful name to have on a CV (for now).
Cons
Benoy has not truly been a market leader for a long time. Here’s my take on why: - Quality of design work is constantly in decline, partly because teams are underqualified, inexperienced and overworked - It's difficult to attract quality staff because salary offer is benchmarked to the lowest acceptable market rate - Which in turn fuels staff attrition as people spend a couple of years here before burning out and peeling off to a competitor. Only 3-4 employees (out of 100+) have been here longer than 5 years. - It is mostly senior management who cling on. I seriously wonder if anyone else would hire them (and am pretty sure they have interviewed elsewhere unsuccessfully) - But even management have no authority as all decisions are made from headquarters - By a CEO who is not a design professional and who shows absolutely zero respect for the professionals who have made him a millionaire many times over - And who is so greedy that he insists on a profit margin that makes Benoy uncompetitive on almost every bid - Which means that the projects Benoy does win are usually not prestige projects in top-tier markets - Which makes the whole proposition even less attractive for capable and talented staff Instead of taking any action to correct this, senior management seem to be obsessed with changing the reporting structures, which is diverting if you enjoy spreadsheets (especially because you can see the mistakes finance are making 6 months before they notice them) but actually extremely tedious if you have bothered to get some design qualifications and want to use them. People vote with their feet. The only question is what will happen first: no projects to do or no staff to do them. I couldn't say it was a waste of my time because there are some genuinely nice people working there but I am heartily glad to be gone and would never, ever contemplate returning.