Why Did So Many People Leave?

I have just completed the first week of my internship at the KDC/One Innovation Lab. The office is almost a year old and has about 20 people working there. However, KDC/One is a large corporation with a network of manufacturing sites across the continent. So far, my experience has been all but uninteresting. When looking at the culture of my organization, it seems to be very unique. Immediately, it is a better work environment than my previous internship. When I first entered the office, I felt welcomed and comfortable. Everyone was so warm and friendly and have continued to be great over the past week. The head of the office clearly sets strong and positive values for the office. For example, at the weekly catch up, which was quite informal, the Chief Innovation Officer had everyone go around the table and say what they are thankful for. On top of that, each person introduced themselves to me at this meeting, offering to speak with me individually about what they do. I have followed through with these meetings and have had several conversations where I learned about each person’s experience and career. The overall attitude of the office is positive. Everyone is inclusive, friendly, and creative. Multiple people have stressed to me that they value my insights, and want me to come to them with any ideas I have. One woman even said she would love to hear what I observe with regards to this internship class and my leadership education. It is great to be in an environment where my opinion is highly valued.

Despite these strong positive cultural aspects of my office, I have also noted some questionable contextual factors. When I interviewed in January, the team was about the same size, however half of the people that I met have left the company. For a few months, there were only 3 people in the office, aside from the chemists in the lab. Now the people who left have been replaced. The office is not even a year old, so the people who left the company left only after a few months. I am unsure as to why they all left at once, however, I am starting to gain some insight on the matter. Each KDC/One site was bought in a series of acquisitions that have been happening over the last few years. Although all of these sites are now under the KDC/One name, they each have their own ways of doing things. I have noticed much frustration among some of the Innovation Lab employees when dealing with the other sites. My office is not the headquarters but clearly was bought to not only create more innovative products but also unify the entire company.  It is a difficult task for the employees to ensure every site is working within the KDC/One guidelines and has caused some frustration among the office. It seems to be a general consensus that the employees want the company to become more “normal” with more centralized power and consistency across each site. I have yet to sit down with the two leaders of the office, so I am unsure as to how they feel on the matter. I am curious as to why so many people left within such a short amount of time. This is something I will continue to investigate as my experience goes on.

I would say that much of the interaction is informal. This is nice because it makes the environment warm and welcoming. As I noted before, even the formal weekly catch was very informal. Everyone talked about their weekend and little information regarding the business was shared. However, as an intern, this level of informality can make it difficult to know exactly what is and what isn’t appropriate with regards to communication and norms of the office. This is something I will become more aware of as the summer continues and hope to get a full understanding of the office norms