Week 1: Avascent’s Organizational Culture

Avascent is an Aerospace and Defense Management Consulting firm. As expected, everyone on the team is highly motivated and highly capable; employees work very hard and put in long hours. However, there is another side to the firm’s culture which caught me off guard, and quite frankly, gives the office a much more interesting and enjoyable dynamic. Despite the firm’s ambitious work ethic and abilities, the culture is surprisingly laid back. The following have been my observations from the past week.

During the summer, casual (but presentable and respectable) attire is allowed. Consultants and analyst will dress up for client meetings, but otherwise it is not uncommon to see a manager in shorts and t-shirt.

There is no apparent cut throat competition between junior employees looking to get ahead. The more experience analysts are very helpful with any questions the juniors have and are very generous with their time- despite having a considerable amount of work themselves. In this regard, the leaders of the “bullpen” (senior analysts) display strong pro-social behavior; and in my opinion, to the benefit of the firm.

The upper management is very well connected with its employees, and the firm appears to have a very strong sense of community. Managers have a genuine open-door policy and seem to get along very well with more junior staff. There is strong communication between the upper and lower ranks. Furthermore, the company has a strong group bond. Many of the analysts hang out together on the weekends and many seem to be genuine friends; I’ve joined on a few happy hours throughout the week as well.

Overall, Avascent manages to achieve a high-performance, yet highly-enjoyable workplace.