I think allowing people to work however they want should be the way forward.
I personally don't plan on ever going back into an office. For me, WFH is the best thing that has ever happened. No commute, no open office bullshit, more sleep, more focus, more time for personal hobbies, no working in a filthy neighborhood in downtown SF, options for better accommodations (due to no commute), no waiting for people to finally clear a meeting room, no need to stand in line to go to a smelly restroom, etc. etc.
One of the things I miss most about the office is that I live in “ a filthy neighborhood in downtown SF” and the office was wonderful. I also miss the commute, which was on one of the tech busses, so I could sit back and take in the scenery.
I am upgrading neigborhoods though, so that’s something.
It also helps with recruitment: Your catchment area is bigger if someone only has to come in the office 3x/week vs. 5x.
I guess we need to differentiate between 100% remote, and partial WFH. Just about everyone will be in favour of the latter, but pushing everyone into the former has its consequences.
I wish people would stop thinking about remote working as a binary thing. Everyone's situation is different.
I live a 15 minute walk from my office, so for me going to the office has loads of benefits and few downsides. My brother-in-law pays £100/week to spend 2-3 hours a day commuting in and out of London. For him WFH has been a massive quality of life improvement, especially as there are few benefits to him being in the studio (he's a video editor).
We are split between two offices, one in SF and one in the UK (with everyone wfh at the mometn), and our entire front-end team is remote, it all works pretty well. Sure, there are jobs where being in the office will be prefereable, but we need to start being more flexible in both space and time.
No judgment just wondering.