I think it would be hard to argue that working all together in an office - like before covid - isn't more productive. In-person meetings are easier. Whiteboarding and brainstorming is way easier. Spontaneous conversations are easier. Helping junior people is easier. People actually pay attention in meetings. You get to know colleagues better.

Have you ever had to "now click on the left... no, up a bit. No go back you were just there. It's the third one from th... I'll just paste the link in chat" when you were standing next to someone's desk? No.

The only benefits of working from home are:

1. No commute.

2. Can do life stuff (we finally have a solution to the dumb problem that shops etc. are only open when people are at work).

3. The company doesn't need to spend money on offices.

The first two are huge bonuses for employees, but the company doesn't give a shit about them. At best they care about paying for offices, but that's pretty minor (especially when they've already paid for them and they're sitting there empty).

I entirely agree on the benefits of in person work. I personally don't enjoy the remoteness of remote work, but the time, money, and sanity cost of commuting still ends up making me prefer working remotely overall.

If I could live in the same building as my job, I would.

> Have you ever had to "now click on the left... no, up a bit. No go back you were just there. It's the third one from th... I'll just paste the link in chat" when you were standing next to someone's desk?

Yes.

I resolve it the same way in person as I do remotely, either by pointing at the screen, asking for (and receiving) control of the mouse and keyboard, or both. If you don't know how to use the features of your screen-sharing software that permit this, you need to learn them. If your screen-sharing software does not have these features, urge your company to switch to one that does (or just switch to one that does, if your company policies permit).

> People actually pay attention in meetings.

I've seen no difference in overall meeting attentiveness in the switch to WFH. Perhaps I've been blessed to work with unusually competent and mindful people.

> Spontaneous conversations are easier. ... You get to know colleagues better.

I don't, no. If anything, spontaneous conversations are way easier remotely, as most of the "water cooler" conversations in the office happen in large "off-topic" channels. This is really good for knowing what's going on at the company, because it massively expands the audience for chatter, gossip, and unofficial news from just a handful of people to the entire company. Plus, it's async communications, which means that you don't miss out just because you weren't there.

> Whiteboarding ... is way easier.

This is true. Most folks don't have cameras hooked up to their whiteboards (or even have whiteboards!).

> [B]rainstorming is way easier.

Disagree. Virtual post-it notes and a shared text document of some kind, plus a group voice call works great.

I completely agree, but just as the company couldn't care less about the employee's benefits from WFH, I couldn't care less about the company's benefits from WFO.

Most organizations are so inefficient, that all of this is barely a factor - whether or not work is getting done at 1% of the rate of what it should be getting done, or 1.3% isn't really a dealbreaker for the company.

> Spontaneous conversations are easier

Demanding an immediate impromptu meeting of indeterminate length does feel less rude in person, yes.