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If hybrid working has changed where talent lives and what people expect from an employer, how much does a location strategy now say about the organisation a company wants to be?
Location and Identity, hosted by Dave Cairns of Kadence, examined where workplace culture now lives and the commercial constraints that shape the spaces people work in.
Tribe Host: Dave Cairns
Co-Hosts: Russell Wood (Travers Smith), Maud Santamaria (GWI), Jemma Wylde (Reckitt), Sonya Simmonds (ByteDance), Bex Moorhouse (WPP), Roderick Miller (UKTV)
Scribe: Grace Olorunshola
Where Does Workplace Culture Exist Now?
Host Dave Cairns opened the discussion by saying that culture does not sit only in the workplace. Many of the Tribe suggested it has moved into digital systems and is built in different ways, including unconventional ones such as spam emails. People’s lives now mix physical and digital experience, and the Tribe largely agreed that organisational culture should reflect that.
The office still plays a distinctive role in building relationships and belonging. Many pointed to how much easier it is to develop cross-team relationships there, as well as the part it plays in professional development. One of the Tribe members suggested that culture can be viewed as how employees feel on a Sunday night about Monday.
Choice Versus Mandate: What Should Anchor Office Attendance?
There was broad agreement that mandates do not work and that choice is the most valuable workplace amenity. Many described a great workplace as one where people who choose to come in find their job easier as a result. That idea is increasingly debated, as many anecdotes within the Tribe described being more productive at home.
Intentional in-office collaboration and commute costs also featured, and London’s Tuesday to Thursday peak prompted extended discussion. One question kept recurring: should we accept that Fridays are just Fridays?
Geography changes the picture. Some members of the Tribe described coming into the office as a matter of course in parts of Asia, including China, Singapore and the Philippines, which contrasts with the UK’s two to three days in person. Attendance expectations, and the culture around them, vary by context.
Can Workplace Culture Be Frictionless?
One of the Tribe members framed the workplace as a canvas on which people paint their own picture, where poor coffee or a bad reception can wreck it. Many of the Tribe believed friction needs removing from arrival to departure. Examples included a variety of spaces for different work styles and spaces tailored to function, such as R&D, a trading floor or manufacturing, all under shared principles.
The Tribe largely agreed that people are more productive when they can choose how they work. Team-level arrangements can give teams autonomy and support a consistent culture without every team working in the same way. Many saw real value in having a best friend at work, and in workplace teams picking up colleagues who are having a bad day, as part of what makes culture worthwhile.
The Commercial and Operational Constraints Shaping Workplace Identity
One of the Tribe members suggested many companies are in the “half-committing” camp, because senior leadership designs workplaces without consulting the people who use them, which risks a “very expensive warehouse”. Most of the Tribe agreed, noting that cost per FTE and lease cost increasingly drive decisions. Senior management looks at these metrics when making decisions that affect workplace culture.
Further constraints included the long timescale of a culture strategy set against the speed of AI companies and, in London, listed buildings, an ageing BMS and almost no new supply. It was also observed that aspirations can be undermined when the people designing the workplace are disconnected from the people using it.
Biggest Opportunity: A Choice-Led, Frictionless Workplace Built on Agreed Behaviours
Many of the Tribe saw the opportunity as a workplace that makes attending worthwhile, from arrival and reception to the availability of suitable spaces and the chance to connect with colleagues. Spaces should reflect the work being done while following consistent organisational principles. A positive experience and a strong sense of community can give employees a reason to attend without relying solely on attendance monitoring.
Many saw defining the organisation’s value system, behaviours and communication styles as the first step in building an authentic culture. Designing spaces that enable those behaviours came next, alongside treating employees as individuals who are trusted to manage their own productivity.
Team-level agreements about which work is better done together, and purposeful in-person days with workshops rather than just calls, were also suggested as ways to give people a reason to come in.
Biggest Challenge: Unclear Ownership and Decisions Disconnected from Employees
When ownership of culture, attendance and behaviour is unclear, the development of a cultural identity stalls. Many of the Tribe observed that real estate and workplace teams are often judged on attendance, although HR policy is what drives it. Several of the Tribe members felt it is not their job to own this.
It is unclear who owns behaviour and transformation, and mandates are often inconsistent with stated policy. This leaves workplace teams accountable for attendance without direct control over the policies and behaviours that influence it.
Decisions driven by cost per FTE, lease commitments and senior leadership priorities, without enough thought for how employees use the space, risk producing workplaces that meet commercial objectives but fail to support the relationships and working practices they are meant to enable.
Uneven attendance across the week adds to the problem. When offices are quiet on certain days or the experience is poor, employees have fewer reasons to attend, which reinforces the very patterns organisations are trying to change.
Dave Cairns’s reflection afterwards was that the group left with two questions still to solve: how to make the working day in the office carry less friction, and how to turn bad days at the office into less bad ones, a framing he credited to one of the Tribe members. He added that getting people to the office in the first place is not the workplace leader’s job.
OCCUPEERS took place on 13 October 2026 at Fulham Pier, London.
Find out more about the event at space-plus.org/occupeers
