CEOs like Jamie Dimon have reignited the return-to-office debate, often framing flexibility as a risk to collaboration, productivity and culture. At the same time, some organizations report the opposite—that their cultures have strengthened under more flexible models.
Culture has become one of the most frequently cited—and least consistently measured—factors in this debate.
At Akamai Technologies, CHRO Anthony Williams has spent several years testing whether flexibility and culture are at odds. His team’s approach is an example of how culture can be measured, tested and improved, regardless of where work happens.
See also: The 2 most effective DEI programs at Akamai Technologies
In a recent interview at the Institute for Corporate Productivity’s (i4cp) Next Practices Now Conference, Williams shared how Akamai has taken a more strategic approach to reinforcing its culture after moving to a remote-first work policy.
The company’s “FlexBase” model enables over 95% of its employees to work from their chosen location, and they use their physical offices as hubs for collaboration, training, and anchor events.
Rather than assuming Akamai’s culture would erode, Williams’ team made a deliberate decision early on in its remote-first journey to treat culture as a system that could be examined and improved.
Before expanding its flexible work model in 2021, the HR team partnered with an external firm to conduct a formal cultural diagnostic. The goal was to establish a clear baseline for what was working and what needed to change. That baseline continues to guide decisions today.
“We’ve made the decision that every five years we’ll do a cultural diagnostic,” said Williams.
For Akamai, the cadence matters. It signals to employees and leadership that shaping culture is an ongoing process, not a one-time initiative. It gives leaders a reference point to track progress.
The company’s most recent culture diagnostic, completed last year, showed improvement in targeted areas while maintaining core strengths. The results showed positive signs of culture readiness—what i4cp defines as possessing a culture and leadership system designed to continuously adapt behaviors, decisions, and ways of working as business needs evolve. This is a key component of future-ready organizations.
“Interestingly enough, the areas that we (sought) to preserve were still intact from a reporting and quantitative standpoint. The areas that we were seeking to improve improved a little,” shared Williams. “We can say that we’re better than we were in terms of being able to evolve the culture.”
In the time since the company’s first culture diagnostic, Akamai has established its flexible work approach, scaled the number of its employees, and expanded the nature of how it has grown the organization, said Williams. Something he shared would not have been possible if there had been cultural erosion.
Why measurement changes the RTO culture conversation
Even at office-based companies, measurement of culture can be elusive.
Recent research from i4cp, in partnership with Extraordinary Women on Boards, finds that just 48% of corporate directors report that they regularly receive data on culture health. The finding suggests that despite an organization’s in-office or remote work policy, boards often have limited visibility into culture, a key driver for performance.
Many organizations rely on indirect signals such as attendance, engagement scores, or turnover to assess culture. At Akamai, leaders defined specific attributes tied to business performance and measured against them.
“We measure productivity on an index,” Williams said. “It’s a set of variables that gives us an indication of how productive we are in a flexible work environment.”
That index has been refined each year. The approach is iterative, with adjustments based on what proves to be meaningful.
This level of specificity changes the conversation. Rather than debating whether remote work affects culture, leaders can evaluate outcomes tied to defined metrics.
By comparison, organizations that tighten attendance requirements often lack comparable data. Culture concerns can surface later through lagging indicators, making it harder to identify root causes.
Looking beyond surface-level sentiment
At Akamai, employee sentiment is gathered through structured feedback loops, rather than inferred from presence in the office.
That shift required managers to be more deliberate. Without hallway conversations to rely on, leaders had to operate with more intentionality when checking in with employees and communicating what success looked like.
“You have to lean in and be comfortable being uncomfortable,” Williams said. Listening is treated as an ongoing input into decision-making, not a periodic exercise.
Set clear expectations for roles and goals
As work became more distributed, clarity became more important.
“Clarity matters,” Williams said. “Role and goal clarity (have) to be the foundation for building proper expectations and trust.”
Research supports this. A 2025 Gallup report found that 46% of employees reported that they don’t clearly understand what’s expected of them at work.
Physical proximity does little to solve that gap. Without clear expectations, employees can still struggle, regardless of location.
Invest in leadership as the driver of culture
Akamai’s approach also centers on leadership behavior. “For us, it’s really about how we pour into our leaders to drive the best environment in terms of engagement, connection and productivity,” Williams said.
In other words, culture doesn’t deteriorate because people aren’t in the office together. It deteriorates when leaders stop managing deliberately; expectations blur, and trust erodes.
The most culturally fit organizations—remote or otherwise—measure first, diagnose rigorously, and resist the urge to treat physical presence as proof.
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