Organizational Culture at ASTHO

From what I’ve seen, ASTHO appears to be very committed to its employees’ well-being, as well as to causes of diversity/inclusion. From what I’m told, ASTHO was working remotely pre-COVID, which I think speaks to the organization’s willingness to be flexible and make things work if need be for their employees. ASTHO also has built in time for professional development each month, as well as time during their company-wide weeks where employees can spend time doing more relaxed/non-work activities. There was programming related to Juneteenth, as well as communication about Pride Month – both of which were encouraging. Of course, mere mention of issues of diversity/inclusion doesn’t mean it is always genuine, but I have been truly amazed by the diversity of their entire organization. If I had to guess, it’s definitely more diverse than pretty much any place I’ve worked previously. 

Overall, I’d characterize the company as valuing well-being despite also valuing commitment to work. People are expected to work independently when possible and I’ve been somewhat frustrated by the lack of direction/structure in my internship at times, but hopefully that will improve as I become busier and get a better grasp of the projects I’ll be working on for most of my time there, which appear to not be hitting hard until July, based on what I know. However, I’ve seen how much my team alone manages, so it’s clear that productivity is important here. 

Generally, people seem to really love the organization and really be invested in their work, which I think is super cool. In one of our orientations this week, the employee who was leading it actually spent several minutes talking about how much he enjoys ASTHO, which was really neat to see. However, that same passion for the organization generally doesn’t seem to be so easily translated to interpersonal relationships, at least, from my experience. One thing that’s definitely been different from the experience I had last summer is just getting to know people. It seems people aren’t as “tight” with each other as I’m used to seeing teams being; however, I also have to account for the fact that the place I worked last summer was a super small organization. I’ve seen people interact informally with each other to an extent (via Microsoft Teams or the informal message board we have), but it doesn’t yet feel like people let their guard down too much. Of course, this is only my second full week, so I’m hoping/thinking that, as I get to know people, that impression will change. For now, though, it does seem like people are more formal with each other than I’m used to. If it is the case that they’re more formal with each other, I wonder how much of that is caused by the fact that they’re remote. Either way, I’ve been at least pleased with the fact that everyone has been super friendly and willing to help out; I still get confused as to when to use email (more formal forms of communication) and when to use Teams/the message boards, but hopefully that understanding of when to be formal and when not to be will come with time and experience. Of course, I’m still in the process of trying to prove myself, so I don’t feel like I’ve really let my guard down either; I also don’t know my boss or others super well just yet, so I’d rather play it safe and be more formal than say the wrong thing to the wrong person.