One of the newest Morning Call Top Workplace winners may be hard at work fueling your phone, your television or even your excitement as a local sports fan. But inside the office, 2026 awardee Astound aims to create a community of employees who provide the best customer service for thousands of Lehigh Valley residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a collaborative, inclusive, value driven culture,\u201d Tracy Brutcher, Astound executive vice president and chief human resources officer, said. \u201cThe feedback that we get from employees is that they have a really strong sense of belonging. They\u2019re encouraged to share ideas openly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Astound \u2014 a telecommunication provider focused on internet, Wi-Fi, mobile and television services \u2014 employs about 270 people in the Lehigh Valley, among thousands of workers nationwide. Employees in the Lehigh Valley are offered benefit programs that focus on wellness, mental health and well-being, as Brutcher emphasized that open door policies and regular company meetings improve morale.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really focus on proactive training with our employees and ensuring career advancement, which supports the tenure and the seniority that we\u2019ve had with employees,\u201d Brutcher said, adding that employee retention ranks highly among peer telecommunication organizations.<\/p>\n
That focus on employee happiness is just one reason Astound was named to The Morning Call\u2019s Top Workplaces this year for the first time, placing 10th among companies with 500 or more employees.<\/p>\n
Astound\u2019s leadership pushes employees to \u201creally have a sense of ownership to how we\u2019re delivering our services,\u201d Brutcher said. She joined the company \u2014 the sixth largest telecommunications provider in the United States \u2014 23 years ago, when it was known as Residential Communications Network, or RCN, before it rebranded as Astound in 2018.<\/p>\n
To help evolve Astound\u2019s mobile and internet services, Brutcher said the company has an innovation program to recognize employees who develop modern solutions to improve customer service. Employees promote and sell a variety of telecommunication services, ranging from family mobile plans to television premium plans and international programming.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not just buzzwords that we use about innovation and growth,\u201d Brutcher said. \u201cIt\u2019s really about making sure that we create that dynamic environment where people really feel like they can thrive within the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the television side of Astound\u2019s offerings, the local channel \u201cAstound TV\u201d has seen its video team gradually evolve television services onto streaming platforms, such as YouTube. Brutcher said the television network, commonly known as ATVN, encourages the organization to be \u201cclosely tied with the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first started, there was no such thing as streaming,\u201d said manager of video services Christopher Popik, a 26-year Astound employee. \u201cThe internet was an idea at the time, it was basically the broadcast to your cable. And just in the third year I\u2019ve been doing this, the technological changes have been incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Popik manages a team of seven full-time staff members and dozens of freelancers who produce a variety of ATVN shows. The network is most commonly known for broadcasting Lehigh Valley high school sports games, including Friday night football games and wrestling matches.<\/p>\n
In addition, ATVN produces a popular cultural diversity program called \u201cCultural Bridges,\u201d as well as adoptable pet segments, local parades, Lafayette College Division I athletic events and more.<\/p>\n
Some of ATVN\u2019s most viewed content can top 10,000 viewers, Popik said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very busy. This is our biggest time of the year,\u201d he said, explaining that Astound team members often film multiple episodes of a show such as \u201cCultural Bridges\u201d in one day. ATVN provides a full list of its programming options on its website.<\/p>\n
The service announced in July that it would invest $81 million into expanding its fiber optic network, which helps transmit internet data and power television. The project is estimated to be completed by the end of 2026, with 315,000 homes gaining access to Astound\u2019s advanced fiber-power network.<\/p>\n
The hard work by employees, Brutcher said, makes these big projects come to life.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we have happy employees and employees that are really engaged in their work, they can deliver that outstanding customer service,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd when our employees succeed, the company succeeds, and so do our customers and our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andreas Pelekis is a freelance writer.<\/p>\n
Astound<\/p>\n
Founded: 2010<\/p>\n
Ownership: Private<\/p>\n
Sector: Telecommunications and Cable<\/p>\n
Lehigh Valley employees: 270<\/p>\n
Website: Astound.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the newest Morning Call Top Workplace winners may be hard at work fueling your phone, your…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,60,58385],"class_list":["post-124526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-business","tag-top-workplaces"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}