The key trends shaping happy and high-performing teams

To celebrate B Corp Month, our CEO, Sally Pritchett, joined a panel of B Corp leaders and industry experts at Uncommon Holborn to explore just that. In conversation with Bleddyn Harris, Head of People and Culture at B Lab, the discussion revealed key trends shaping the future of work and what businesses can do to create thriving, engaged teams.

Rethinking workplace culture

Too many businesses are still stuck in an outdated industrial mindset – viewing employees as cogs in a machine that need to be optimised and replaced when they break. But workplaces are ever-evolving living ecosystems, filled with diverse identities, ideas and experiences.

To create a culture where employees thrive, businesses must:

• Listen deeply – go beyond surveys to understand the real undercurrents shaping employee experience.
• Make change an engaging process – design change communications to be creative, inspiring and participatory.
• Enable flow states – consider how workspace design, communication styles and celebrations contribute to culture.
• Embrace conscious leadership – leaders should create a positive and collaborative environment where everyone can thrive.

Tackling loneliness

Loneliness has become a big and unfortunate trending topic, but it is important to know that it is not caused by remote work – it’s caused by fractured cultures. Return to office mandates are part of the loneliness problem; what could be lonelier than feeling disconnected from your colleagues while sitting in a buzzy office? Communication plays a vital role in bridging that gap.

Valuing feedback

Surveys, suggestion boxes and employee groups may seem like standard tools – but they only work when they are inclusive and transparent.

Key principles of effective feedback include:

• Providing multiple ways to contribute – recognising potential language and other barriers, offering different ways to feedback.
• Appointing spokespeople – ensuring non-native speakers and those not comfortable with speaking up can have a voice.
• Creating a genuine feedback loop – sharing all survey results, addressing difficult feedback and being honest when changes aren’t possible.
• Targeting disengagement – where you are seeing signs of disengagement, for example low survey response rates, investigate the cause. Would tailored training or perhaps surveys in multiple languages or formats help?

Communicating through change

During times of change, clarity and consistency are everything. Strong leadership voices, regular updates and a visible presence – with an example given of a CEO spending time working from reception – can create a sense of stability.

Humans are natural storytellers. If leaders don’t shape the narrative, employees will create their own – and that’s where misinformation can spread. Tapping into the stories that drive purpose fuels both innovation and productivity.

Creating human-centric work environments

A desk and chair are no longer enough. The spaces we work in play a crucial role in collaboration, focus and connection. The venue itself, Uncommon’s Holborn location, is a perfect example of how human-centric design, greenery and calming aesthetics can enhance workplace wellbeing.

Modern workplaces need to provide flexibility, offering spaces that support both deep work and collaboration. Thoughtful design can create an environment that facilitates productivity and meaningful interactions.

Supporting volunteering programmes

Businesses offering paid volunteering days is on the rise, but offering the benefit doesn’t automatically result in take-up – businesses need to actively encourage participation.

Volunteering isn’t just good for the individual – it strengthens engagement, productivity and workplace culture. It tackles loneliness, builds community and enhances wellbeing. The key is making it easy for employees to get involved.

Want to see how we helped a client inspire over 120,000 employees to volunteer? Find out more here.

Overcoming communication overload

Communication tools like video calls and instant messaging were meant to streamline work. Instead, they’ve created a culture of constant communication – where employees are drowning in notifications, meetings and distractions. The workplace is now like a crowded room where everyone is talking at once. It’s affecting productivity, wellbeing and relationships. To fix this, businesses must:

• Set clear communication guidelines – establish expectations for response times and message urgency.
• Encourage mindful communication – leaders should model concise, purposeful messaging.
• Reduce unnecessary noise – assess which platforms are essential and eliminate redundant ones.

Communication: the key to workplace happiness and performance

At the heart of all these trends lies communication. Getting it right means understanding what, when and how to communicate – ensuring efficiency without overload. Talk to your teams, listen to what they need and create a workplace where communication fuels success rather than hinders it.

A happy, high-performing team isn’t built overnight. But with purposeful communication, inclusive culture and thoughtful leadership, businesses can create environments where people truly thrive.

At Something Big, we help businesses communicate with clarity, creativity and inclusivity – making workplaces fairer, healthier and happier. From shaping strategy and change programmes to fostering wellbeing and inclusion, we work with some of the world’s best workplaces to engage leaders, managers and frontline teams through impactful communication.

Ready to build a thriving workplace? Let’s talk.