Earlier this year we convened workplace leaders from across finance, pharma, and professional services at our Google x UnWork roundtable, and the conversation surfaced critical insights into how organisations are navigating 2026’s most pressing challenges. Here’s a closer look at one of the emerging trends shaping the year ahead.
The Challenge: Purpose in a Post-Pandemic World
Across organisations, a fundamental question remains unresolved: why should people come into the office? The tension between employee expectations for flexibility and leadership pressure to justify real estate spend has become a central friction point. Employees are increasingly resistant to mandated 3-4 day requirements, creating predictable Tuesday-Thursday spikes and near-empty Mondays and Fridays. This pattern undermines both collaboration and space planning, leaving leaders caught between paying for underutilised assets and respecting the autonomy employees now expect.
As one participant observed, “We’re still trying to crack this whole collaboration issue… what really changed in COVID was expectations and behaviours.”
The gap is widening. Employees want flexibility. Leaders need utilisation. And the office itself has become a site of unresolved negotiation rather than shared purpose.
The Opportunity: From Mandate to Meaning
Yet the most forward-thinking organisations are beginning to shift the conversation. Rather than asking “how do we get people back,” they’re asking “what makes the office worth the commute?” This reframing moves beyond attendance metrics toward value creation—designing spaces and policies that offer something remote work cannot.
The office of 2026 will succeed not through mandates, but through magnetic pull: environments that support deep collaboration, spontaneous connection, and work that genuinely benefits from physical proximity. The organisations making progress are co-creating these purposes with their people, rather than imposing them from above.
Hybrid working isn’t a problem to solve. It’s a reality to design for. And the organisations that embrace this will build workplaces that employees choose, not endure.
Interested in joining future roundtable discussions with workplace leaders tackling these challenges? Email [email protected] to register your interest in attending an upcoming event.
