Reviving workplace collaboration in the age of AI and remote work

Executive overview

Office attendance in the US has collapsed to 15–25%, while comparable markets like Mumbai run at 64% and Shanghai at 75%. The gap is eroding collaboration, culture, and the informal learning that builds strong teams. WPP CEO Mark Read argues that personal productivity metrics miss what business is really about: solving client problems together.

The long-term costs of separation — to learning, culture, and creativity — are invisible until it's too late.

The case for in-office work

• Mandates alone won't work; people need to want to return — carrots over sticks.
• Pre-COVID default was office attendance; that assumption has inverted and needs resetting.
• Most professional learning happens by overhearing, observing, and being in rooms — not on Zoom.
• Tuesday–Thursday clustering makes office space inefficient; the goal is more evenly distributed attendance.
• Many things that matter most — culture, mentorship, serendipity — are unmeasurable.

What AI can and cannot do

• GenAI handles first drafts, brainstorming, and brief summarisation well; it accelerates cycle time dramatically.
• A client branding exercise that once took six months can now be done in an hour.
• AI generates strong answers to the brief but cannot tell a good idea from a bad one.
• The real creative value often lies in questioning the brief itself — AI won't strap a Fitbit to a chicken.
• Practical examples in use now: Shah Rukh Khan personalised ads via WhatsApp for thousands of Indian small businesses; Jennifer Lopez personalised Virgin Cruises invitations; KitKat campaign ideation via the Imagine platform.

AI's impact on jobs and workforce

• Technology has historically created jobs at WPP: social media managers, programmatic buyers, SEO specialists didn't exist 20 years ago.
• Group M employment grew over the last decade despite — and because of — technology.
• Net effect on headcount over the next five years remains genuinely uncertain.
• People should experiment directly with tools like Midjourney; understanding comes from use, not observation.

Purpose, brand risk, and the limits of taking sides

• The Bud Light moment signalled that brand purpose carries real downside risk, not just upside.
• Any position on a contested issue risks alienating a significant part of the audience — there is no safe default.
• WPP works with more fossil fuel clients than any other ad firm; Read frames this through a free-speech lens.
• The principle: companies should be able to advocate their positions; audiences should judge.

Managing a global business under disruption

• Bad news travels up organisations faster than good news; leaders must look at overall numbers to calibrate.
• Optimism is a core WPP value — but optimism must not tip into delusion.
• AI strategy requires holding three time horizons simultaneously: three months, one year, five years.
• Decentralised experimentation — letting people try things — is preferable to top-down AI control.