Encinas Blog Post 5
After having worked at BRG for five weeks, I have been able to observe the organizational culture in some detail, despite working remotely. There are certainly high expectations about the hours and work individuals are meant to put in. Work hours are typically longer than 9 to 5. However, I have had many conversations with peers and mentors that everyone’s schedule varies from project to project, and some periods of the year are far busier than others. There is certainly an ebb and flow in terms of high-pressure projects. In the online setting, it is normal for most people to stay online until around 6 o’clock or even a bit later. For the last few days of the internship, I get to be in person so I will pay close attention to how expectations change being in the office. The process of learning these norms has mostly centered around casual conversation with coworkers and other interns. There was certainly a learning curve with the virtual setting because such conversations had to be scheduled and I think norms would have been easier to pick up on in person. However, everyone at BRG was very encouraging for the interns to ask questions and very honest in their answers which was very helpful in learning the culture and expectations.
There is a general feeling of support from coworkers. I have talked to my mentor about how people treat each other at BRG and whether there is a highly competitive atmosphere, and this does not seem to be the case at all. Associates to not have to fight or climb over each other to get good case work like is sometimes the case at larger consulting firms. Everyone wants each other to succeed which is a very important thing to me and lends itself to a happier workplace.
An important piece of context about the organization is that much of the work (and all the work in my sector – Healthcare Analytics) pertains to litigation. This means that we cannot discuss details of our cases outside our team due to legal and HIPAA restrictions. This certainly affects the informal conversation because people cannot casually talk about case work. However, I have found that people are eager to help discuss where they can.
