VisitBritain/VisitEngland’s ‘Locate for Your Day’ approach drives collaboration and innovation

Written by: Debra Lang, VisitBritain/VisitEngland ’s Director HR and Professional Services.

I am delighted and really proud that our organisation was recognised in the Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2025, for the second year in a row. It really is testament to VisitBritain/VisitEngland’s collective efforts in creating an inclusive, supportive and thriving workplace culture.

Our Sunday Times award gave particular praise for our inclusive and flexible working practices including our ‘Locate for Your Day’ model and I wanted to explain this approach in a bit more detail.

We are a global organisation with about 300 staff across 19 countries and our delivery, including our support to the tourism industry, depends on having brilliant, committed, passionate staff.

As an employer, part of that is about getting the right policies, structures and ways of working in place so that everyone is supported to achieve and to be their best, and this is underpinned at VisitBritain/VisitEngland by our People Strategy.

When we first conceived the idea of Locate for Your Day at VisitBritain/VisitEngland, I knew we were embarking on something transformative. I’ve witnessed firsthand how this approach has revolutionised not just where we work, but how we collaborate, share knowledge, and deliver on VisitBritain/VisitEngland’s mission to drive a thriving tourism industry that creates sustainable economic growth across Britain.

Our journey began as we emerged from hybrid working arrangements that required staff to be present in the office for a set number of days each week. I asked my team to rethink how we were working and anticipate the longer-term trends which were turbo-charged by the pandemic. These trends include reimagining workplaces, flexible working, wellbeing and the increasing importance of work/life balance, remote working and greater workforce mobility in the long-term.

Through extensive research into best practices both within and outside our organisation, all-staff surveys on working preferences, and feedback from workshops and listening sessions, we developed a more flexible, trust-based approach.

At the heart of Locate for Your Day is a simple yet powerful principle: empowering our teams to work from optimal locations that best support VisitBritain and VisitEngland’s priorities and ambitions. This isn’t about prescriptive rules, it’s about responsible, autonomous decision-making based on personal preference, team needs, and business requirements.

The transformation has been remarkable. Knowledge sharing has flourished as colleagues make deliberate choices about where they locate based on the collaborative needs of specific tasks. This approach means we do not have set days where colleagues are mandated to attend the office. When creative sessions, workshops, or strategic planning meetings demand the spark of in-person interaction, teams meet in person. When focused individual work is required, people can choose environments that maximise their productivity.

As we strive to reach the UK Government’s ambitious target of 50 million international visits to the UK by 2030, our ability to function as “One Global Team” has never been more important. Locate for Your Day has broken down geographical barriers, allowing expertise to flow more freely between our international offices and UK-based teams.

Just as we’re encouraging visitors to explore beyond London, our team members are empowered to work from various locations, and because of this flexibility to work remotely, we can hire top tier talent from right across Britain.

The mutual trust underpinning this approach has been transformative, fostering a greater sense of autonomy, responsibility and accountability throughout the organisation. It has also improved staff engagement and we’ve seen staff turnover reach an all time low.

As the sponsor of VisitBritain/VisitEngland’s women’s network and a working mother myself, I’m particularly proud when colleagues tell me how our flexible working practices have helped them balance their careers with other responsibilities. This benefit extends beyond women, supporting all colleagues whether that’s those dealing with health conditions, with caring responsibilities or those seeking to maintain work/life balance.

Looking ahead, I’m excited to see how Locate for Your Day continues to evolve. We’re already seeing it play a crucial role — supporting the right people being in the right place at the right time. You can’t put a price on the flexibility we offer our people.

We really are firmly on the path to creating a culture that prioritises and supports our people globally, an organisation that is a great place to work and critically that best supports our tourism sector, one of this country’s greatest industries. We’ve got an engaged workforce and a great HR team, who are passionate and committed to working in tourism and that is being reflected in how they support the sector.

If you want to join one of the Best Places to Work in the UK, please do have a look at our latest vacancies via our website. You can also see a short film and hear first-hand from colleagues from across our international network about what makes VisitBritain/VisitEngland a GREAT place to work.