Predictions are funny things: most of them are either so vague they could apply to almost any year, or so dramatic they start to feel like astrology for agency leaders.
I sit in a slightly unusual position. My work takes me across the whole events sector and most of my time is spent in honest conversations with founders, MDs, talent leads and department heads. These are different sized businesses, with different specialisms and different levels of pressure. When you hear enough of those conversations, patterns start to emerge and that’s why I’m confident these are relevant predictions, not guesses for likes.
If 2025 was the year many leaders tried to re-assert the old rules, 2026 is the year those rules are tested properly, and in some cases quietly let go.
1) The 9-5, four-to-five-days-in-the-office debate will finally move on
Some agencies will continue to push rigid office attendance; they’ll frame it as culture, collaboration or standards and for a small number of teams that may genuinely work. But for many roles insisting on office presence “because it is familiar” rather than because it is useful is starting to look out of step with how work actually happens.
The next generation has watched the industry work itself into the ground. They’ve seen long hours, missed birthdays, burn out, and then heard the same frustrations about motivation and engagement. It’s not that they don’t want to work, they just want work to make sense.
The progressive agencies will stop counting hours and start counting output. They’ll build consistent working frameworks (because you can’t have 99 people with 99 different “working arrangements”), but those frameworks will be role and reality based.
If you’re still insisting that everyone must be at their desk X days a week “because that’s how we’ve always done it”, you’ll struggle to recruit, you’ll struggle to retain, and you’ll end up with an office full of people who couldn’t leave rather than people who want to be there. That’s not culture. That’s captivity.
2) Sales roles will split and remote will become the norm
This one comes up constantly in my conversations with agency leaders, usually in the form of: “We need a heavyweight new business person who can do everything.”
But “everything” often means identify targets, building relationships, building a network, generating leads, qualifying opportunities, writing proposals, pitching, closing and handing over.
That’s not one role, that’s three jobs.
In 2026, more agencies will acknowledge that unicorns are not a strategy. Sales roles will split into two clear strengths:
- people who are brilliant at opening doors and qualifying real opportunities, and
- people who are brilliant at closing and converting them.
Crucially: the “front end” role will be fully remote in far more cases. Strong salespeople need time in the market, in meetings, building a pipeline, learning what’s shifting, staying close to buyers. That doesn’t require a desk; it requires a network and the discipline to use it well.
This also widens the talent pool overnight. Instead of recruiting within commuting distance of your office – agencies can recruit national, and in some cases internationally. In a tight market, that flexibility becomes a genuine advantage.
3) Pay will start to reflect location and office attendance
This is where emotions run high because some people may hear it as: “You’re devaluing me.” But that’s not the case. It’s about recognising that pay structures have long been influenced by geography, commuting costs and local economies. When someone chooses to relocate for lifestyle reasons and their office attendance drops, it’s reasonable for the salary conversation to evolve – not because capability has changed, but because the economic context has.
Many leaders are already exploring this quietly, not to penalise people, but to retain good talent while keeping the business financially healthy. The organisations that handle this well will do so transparently, role by role, with clear bands and an honest link between pay, location expectations and contribution.
Handled badly – inconsistently or emotionally – it creates mistrust. Handled well, it becomes part of a grown-up conversation about flexibility and fairness.
4) Agencies will specialise again
Ask ten agencies what they do and you’ll hear a familiar answer: “We’re integrated. We do events, activations, content, production, strategy, digital, live… everything.” Buyers are increasingly weary of that. What they want to know is simpler – and harder: “Why you? What are you genuinely best at?”. In 2026, agencies with a clear point of view will stand out. That might mean specialising by sector, format, audience or capability, but it will be real, not just a slide deck of buzzwords.
Specialisation reduces risk for clients. It builds confidence. While it can feel counterintuitive, saying “no” to some work is often what makes agencies more attractive in the long run. Generalists get compared on price. Specialists get chosen for expertise. Becoming a specialist senior recruiter was the hardest thing I ever did, but in the long run, it’s working out okay.
5) Day rates, timesheets and billable hours will start to look very 2012
AI is speeding up delivery, tools are improving, talent is getting sharper so the old model – paying for time rather than outcome – is starting to feel increasingly out of step with how work is produced.
If something can be delivered faster – and to a high standard – why should that be treated as a problem? The conversation is shifting towards value: what is this worth, by when, and what does “good” actually look like? Agencies that adapt their commercial models to reflect outcomes rather than hours will find 2026 easier. Those that cling to timesheets as their primary measure will spend more time debating fairness than building better ways of working.
So that’s my top five predictions for 2026: less clock-watching, more clarity. Less “this is how we’ve always done it”, more “does this work now?”
The leaders who thrive won’t be the ones trying to preserve the past – they’ll be the ones building organisations people genuinely want to be part of, and that benefits everybody.
