Astranis struggles with several ongoing culture and organizational challenges. Overworking is encouraged and often celebrated, and the overall work environment can be difficult to navigate due to inconsistent processes, unclear expectations, and limited follow-through on initiatives.
Astranis operates in a constant sprint toward the next deadline. Employees who work the longest hours are often held up as examples, even when this comes at the expense of work-life balance. Although Astranis has an unlimited time-off policy, time off, particularly around holidays, has been scrutinized or restricted due to scheduling pressure. The company also introduced a 55-hour workweek expectation. While long hours may be common at early startups, this felt excessive for a company of this size and maturity.
In my experience, the company struggled to retain and promote employees from underrepresented backgrounds. While concerns were raised through formal and informal channels, meaningful changes were slow or did not materialize. This contributed to frustration and turnover among some employees who did not feel supported long-term.
Over time, it became clear to me that leadership was not willing to invest the resources needed to address these issues in a sustained way. An employee-led diversity and inclusion group proposed initiatives aimed at improving recruitment, retention, and internal processes, but many of these efforts stalled due to lack of support or follow-through.
While many employees are thoughtful and well-intentioned, I observed repeated behaviors and patterns that made the environment difficult for some people to remain long-term. In my experience, leadership decisions and lack of follow-through played a significant role in allowing these issues to persist, contributing to frustration and turnover.