The famous (or infamous) management consultant Peter Drucker once said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” His point? No matter how robust your business strategy is, it’s destined to fail without the support of a strong and cohesive company culture.
Over the past few years, businesses have experienced one of the most significant shifts in working patterns in living memory. The pandemic forced a mass move to remote work almost overnight, and in its wake, many organisations adopted hybrid working as a long-term solution.
Now, five years on, the dust has settled – but the debate around how, where and why we work continues. Office attendance has stabilised, but rarely at pre-pandemic levels. Companies have invested heavily in redesigning their workplaces to promote collaboration, wellbeing and flexibility – yet many report their spaces remain underutilised.
So, what’s behind this disconnect between workplace strategy and day-to-day reality? And how can leaders ensure their hybrid working policies don’t just look good on paper, but actively support performance, engagement and culture? David Thomas, Occupier Advisory Partner, explores.
Leaders set the tone
Let’s start with leadership – because culture begins at the top.
According to the Corporate Governance Institute (CGI), a company’s culture is primarily shaped by the actions of its founders and senior leaders. And yet, many of these same leaders are now mandating a return to the office without modelling that behaviour themselves – continuing to work remotely most of the time.
It’s a classic case of “do as I say, not as I do” – a notoriously ineffective leadership strategy, particularly when trying to influence ingrained behaviours. If senior leaders aren’t visible in the workplace, why should others be?
This lack of alignment between policy and behaviour erodes trust and undermines the very culture businesses are trying to protect.
The push–pull of hybrid policy
A recent Harvard Business Review article highlights growing evidence that remote or hybrid work arrangements can be linked to lower overall performance. In response, many organisations have begun enforcing a return to the office. The article notes, “Over the past year, organisations large and small have been forcing their employees to return to the office.”
But force, as both physics and human psychology remind us, tends to provoke resistance.
This tension is echoed in recent research by King’s Business School. Their findings show that while hybrid working has become the norm, the language of “mandates,” “orders,” and “directives” is often met with scepticism or pushback. Interestingly, their data reveals that over 60% of respondents are already in the office five days a week.
This suggests that objections may be less about policy content, and more about how those policies are communicated. Tone matters. Culture thrives on trust – not coercion.
Productivity, connection and learning
To move the conversation forward, it helps to look beyond compliance and consider employee experience more holistically.
Leesman’s recent report, The Hybrid Future, provides a deeper, data-led insight into how hybrid working is really performing – both for individuals and organisations.
Their findings offer a reality check for businesses:
- Employees are experiencing fatigue from back-to-back virtual meetings
- 31% regularly keep cameras off, reducing engagement and communication quality
- New hires are missing out on informal learning and peer observation
These insights reveal that while hybrid working has many advantages – better work-life balance, reduced commuting, greater autonomy – it can also lead to isolation, communication breakdown, and missed learning opportunities if not managed carefully.
