What actually makes a Best Place to Work | Huggg, Octopus Energy & Stowe Family Law

Three Sunday Times Best Places to Work - Huggg, Octopus Energy and Stowe Family Law - on what actually built their culture, what flopped, and what they'd change. No vendors, no silver bullets, just tactical things People teams can steal. Recorded live, 9 July 2026. Hosted by Paul Wickers (CEO, Huggg), with Alice Cox (Huggg), Emily Hall (Octopus Energy) and Louise Shepherd (Head of Culture & Communications, Stowe Family Law) — three companies at wildly different scales (25, 400 and 10,000+ people). What you'll get: • Why culture is the bedrock - and why no vendor can sell you one • The real risk when you grow (hint: it's not size) • Octopus's "faster is safer" approach to change at scale • How to spot the early warning signs a culture is slipping • The low- and no-cost initiatives that actually landed • Why "don't call it a family" and the "fun sponge" hiring rule Chapters: 0:00 Welcome & why we're talking about culture 3:09 Housekeeping 4:11 Meet the panel: Huggg, Octopus Energy & Stowe 8:39 Three very different scales (25, 400, 10,000+) 9:26 How culture breaks when you grow fast 12:53 Removing the 25 layers of sign-off 15:55 Making values more than words on a wall 18:13 "Faster is safer": changing at speed 22:12 Peer-to-peer endorsement beats top-down 24:45 Desk teams vs field teams: closing the divide 25:50 Using AI to digest team comms 27:19 Values in practice: "we achieve together" 29:18 Getting people to actually use the intranet 31:10 Building culture in a fully remote team 34:03 Why doubling headcount is the real risk 36:40 The warning signs a culture is slipping 41:23 Don't call it a family (the "fun sponge" rule) 43:20 What landed best: work-from-abroad 45:19 In-the-moment recognition that sticks 48:48 Community for its own sake: Jumping into January 51:46 Why connection drives retention 52:57 Should culture change as you grow? 55:35 Rapid-fire: one thing for every leader 58:04 Wrap-up Huggg helps 2,000+ UK businesses handle the small, in-the-moment recognition that keeps people feeling seen. Free to use — you only pay for the gifts you send. 👉 Book a demo: https://gifts.huggg.me/talk-to-us 👉 See how it works: https://www.huggg.me/gift-with-choice #WorkplaceCulture #EmployeeEngagement #BestPlacesToWork #HR #EmployeeRecognition