Week 1: Organizational Culture at WebMD/Krames

My first week with WebMD was both exciting and informative. While everything will be remote for the coming summer, I was still able to meet many people across the organization this week. Everything this week was kept rather formal, as it was my first time communicating with both my colleagues and bosses, however as time went on I noticed that I was able to discuss projects and any assignments less formally. Each week, both of the teams I work with have a couple zoom meetings. Usually, one of them tends to be more formal going over everyone’s work and expectations for the week. If anyone has any questions about any assignments or clients, this is the time they would ask. The other meeting tends to be more informal and we can still discuss work, but if we wanted to discuss something more along the lines of personal lives, that is also allowed. I believe that this balance between formal and informal interaction helps build the relationship between colleagues because it gives everyone a chance to discuss work but also things outside of their careers.

At WebMD the values, attitudes, and expectations of course include that all employees are going to finish their work and assignments on time with top-notch quality. However, I believe that is expected in nearly every workplace. One expectation and attitude I have noticed that stood out to me so far  at WebMD is everyone’s  eagerness to help and support one another. For example, one of my bosses who leads our marketing team is going to be away for one week. However, rather than just accept  that their boss was going to be gone for the week, the marketing team fully set up a plan to cover all of her work and split this work across themselves evenly. They also included time to write daily, thorough updates in this plan so when their boss does come back the following week, she can catch up on anything important she may have missed. Another example comes with one of the head editors leaving the editorial team at the end of next week. Her name is Rachel, and from what I understand, she has a  huge impact on the team with not only her work but her attitude. With her exiting the company next week, it could be easy for no one to make up for the amount of work Rachel put in every week. However at another team meeting yesterday, there was a layout presented to our boss of how nearly every colleague would be picking up Rachel’s slack until her position was refilled. This way, the search to fill this job wouldn’t have to happen at an unreasonable pace, causing someone who may be unfit for the job to be hired. It is comforting to know that the values in the company I am interning for go beyond the work we do on a daily basis, and that if I were to ever need a helping hand, it would not be too far away.