As staff development is essential to growth, quantitative measures are essential for staff development. Subjective measures become secondary to objective measures which the staff is exposed to throughout the year. Attempting to remove the mystery behind raises, bonuses, and profit sharing and expose staff to the business side of the practice, partial disclosure of individual, job, team and office performance is provided.

While there is a time and place for displaying the correct level of respect for the work, the clients, and each other, our office has always been more about substance over the surface. The diversity people bring to the firm in different ethnic backgrounds, nationalities, male and female perspectives, schools of thought have all been an important part of our past success and remains a priority. It is our common work ethic and respect in an informal atmosphere that allows these points of view to be shared.

While attempting to expose the staff to the range of profession within a job and the office, it is also out belief that the best win-win situation for the staff and the office is to allow staff to move in different teams to keep work fresh. Whether it is a modern art gallery, a NCAA basketball arena, a nationally known restaurant, the region's largest retail food service store, a high school science wing, or a historically significant town hall, TRM offers a wide range of project experiences within all aspects of the planning and design process.

In choosing architecture as a career, we believe that it is part of our professional responsibility to teach and to promote an appreciation for the impact architecture has on no just the profitability of a commercial venture, the increases on employee job satisfaction in an office space, or the effect on pupil performance in a educational facility, but on the quality of life of the community. This obligation to teach happens everyday when dealing with clients and municipal authorities, but we believe in proactively reaching out to students, exposing them to the profession to gain a better understanding and appreciation, while bringing their own new ideas and points of view to the table.

Architecture being rarely produced in a vacuum and even less often experienced in sterile isolation, we have chosen to work in a charged environment on the edge of the downtown Buffalo, New York where the historic Allentown District overlays the infrastructure of the technology corridor. While Buffalo's accessibility to the rest of the country and low cost of living make the firm extremely marketable, these aspects along with the four seasons, first class cultural institutions, strong professional sports, quality educational institutions, and many other criteria contribute to the high quality of life in Western New York.

Our's is a successful firm and a successful firm primarily because of the people who make up the firm. This belief that our success begins with out people make it clear that it is the firm's best interest to reward the staff that is here and provide benefits that continue to attract the best people within the field to TRM. With the level of base hourly wages, overtime, profit sharing, cash bonuses, finder's fees, comprehensive health insurance, and paid time off, our firm attempts to indicate the direct relationship of a individual's success with the firm's.

With the emphasis being on the firm to this point, it should be clarified that family and one's health are valued above the work. We respect and encourage our staff's involvement in activities, whether to be time spent on AIA activities, or time off to get to the little league game. The office generates its own amusements in a golf league, hockey team, retreats, and other social events. The firm sees these outside activities as a chance to gain perspective and to recharge. With work around the country, the sacrifice of time away from the office and time with one's family does not go unappreciated.