From January through early February, 2007, the Design Futures Council surveyed leading firms believed to be “best practices” in architecture on the subjects of compensation, benefits, and bonuses. Surveys were distributed and received via fax, postal mail, email and through a proprietary online survey tool.
Firms participating in the research represent 463 offices with headquarters locations in 61 cities across the continental United States. Firms of all sizes (small—less than 20; medium—21-100; large—101-500; and extra-large—501 or more) participated in the survey. Collectively, these firms employ more than 76,000 employees. Not all firms answered all questions. Participating firms were informed that all responses would be kept in strict confidence by the Greenway Group, Inc., the organization administering the research on behalf of the Design Futures Council.
Key drivers for this compensation and benefits research were to obtain quality data from the nation’s leading firms and to keep the surveys relevant, sophisticated and brief. The research administrators independently collected completed surveys and detached identifying cover sheets from the survey responses to assure confidentiality. All data was compiled, aggregated, and organized so that no firm or individual could be identified.
An officer from each participating firm signed and dated the completed questionnaire listing their position and responsibility in the firm; Greenway Group validated the authenticity of the responses. Firm responses collected through a proprietary online survey form were confirmed through access tracking tools and telephone confirmations; all responding firms submitting responses online were invited to participate; approximately half of all respondents utilized the online survey tools. The average response time for the survey was 29 minutes, 17 seconds. Responses from outside North America are not included in the summary reports.
