The Slow Drift Back to the Office: How Agencies Are Redefining Work

The advertising and media world has always been quick to adapt to change. When the pandemic hit, agencies were among the first to embrace remote work fully, proving that creativity, collaboration, and even full-blown pitch meetings could happen through laptop screens. For a while, it seemed like a permanent shift — a new normal where flexibility wasn't just a perk, but a core part of agency life.

Now, a few years later, the tide is quietly, cautiously turning.

The return to office isn't happening with a bang; it’s more of a slow drift. Agency leaders are nudging, inviting, incentivizing — and sometimes mandating — employees back into physical spaces. It's not just about filling desks again. It’s about rekindling the culture, energy, and spontaneity that so many feel has been lost along the way.

Take WPP, for example. The global advertising giant recently rolled out a new policy requiring most employees to work from the office at least four days a week, including at least two Fridays a month. Recognizing that this was a tough sell after years of remote flexibility, WPP tried to sweeten the deal by offering free Friday lunches — think beef ragu, garlic bread, spring salad — across its U.K. campuses. But the move still sparked significant backlash, with employees circulating petitions and voicing concerns that the new rules were too rigid and out of touch with modern work-life expectations.

Despite the noise, WPP isn’t alone. Across the industry, there's a visible push toward reestablishing more in-person time. Leaders like WPP’s Mark Read argue that the data speaks for itself: more time in the office correlates with better employee engagement, stronger client satisfaction, and improved financial results. And perhaps most importantly, clients themselves are showing up more — and expecting their agency partners to do the same.

But not every agency is following the same script.

Some, like LaunchSquad, are choosing a completely different path, embracing a "virtual first" model where many employees live and work in cities without even a local office. Others are opting for a middle ground, like MSL, the global PR firm under Publicis Groupe. Rather than imposing a strict weekly requirement, MSL has leaned into a model that values intentional in-person collaboration — bringing teams together when it makes sense for brainstorming, client meetings, or culture-building moments, rather than adhering to a rigid schedule.

It’s a sign that even among the industry's biggest players, there’s no single, agreed-upon future. Some believe that being in the office together is essential to protecting agency culture and creative output. Others think true flexibility is the future — that agencies must adapt to the new rhythms of their employees' lives if they want to keep their best talent.

Underneath all of this is a deeper tension. The agency business thrives on chemistry — the quick sparks of creativity that can happen when people are in the same room, feeding off each other's energy. But employees aren’t willing to give up the gains they made in work-life balance without a fight. They’ve seen firsthand that great work can happen from anywhere. They’ve rebuilt their lives around flexibility. And they’re asking why coming back full-time is really necessary.

Agency leaders, on the other hand, are balancing those demands with the realities of their business. Many clients are back in their offices three, four, even five days a week. Relationships are built in hallways, over lunches, in those impromptu conversations that don't happen over scheduled Zoom calls. Agencies want their people there to catch those moments — to win the business, to build the trust, to keep the work (and the revenues) flowing.

And so, the return to office continues — not with a big bang, but with a slow, uneven drift. Different agencies are trying different approaches. Some will undoubtedly adjust course again. Some might double down.

What’s clear is that the story isn’t finished. The agency world, built on reinvention and creative problem-solving, is still figuring out what the future of work really looks like — and just like any good campaign, it’s going to take a few rounds of testing before they land on what really sticks.

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