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I agree with the sentiment of your creative approach. I think a good middle ground is having offices in neighbourhoods, within walking/cycling distance where people from different companies come to work. They get the benefit of social interaction, "getting out of the house", and avoid a car journey.

Living in the UK, I think that would also help restore the feeling of community, as a gathering point for people within a local area.

Personally I prefer working from home and have done so for 20 years, almost all my working life- but I understand why people have reasons for preferring an alternative.

Offices are in office districts in places like London for a reason: many people will join the job not living near the office, those people will be all over town, and of course the housing prices nearby might not be to their liking (or the neighborhood amenities, for that matter).

An office district allows people to get to the office expediently from homes all over town, or even in the next town over, because all the trains and buses are routes to take people there.

(Other cities in the UK may vary, but how many of them are tech hubs?)

Expedient really is relative. Some people go from 1.5h of commute to 30 and are happy, others go from 30 to 1h. I have friends in London with commutes across the spectrum.

It's easier to switch your job than find a suitable apartment with an "expedient" commute.

> An office district allows people to get to the office expediently from homes all over town

You've clearly not commuted in and out of London at rush-hour/peak-time then. I REALLY don't miss that. Most days an advertised 30 minute train journey would take 50 minutes and unless you got on the train at it's starting point, that's 50 minutes of standing with your face in someones armpit.

> You've clearly not commuted in and out of London at rush-hour/peak-time then.

Not only have I done that, I've put up with the Southern strikes. Still far better to go into the center of town than to go to some random spot on a different edge of town.

Not sure if you misunderstood my point as I meant people would work from their own neighbourhood, not specific ones for specific companies.

I personally feel that part of the benefit of the office is sometimes being able to unite against the common enemy that is your employer.

I very much agree. If you like working in the office, then work in the office, and if you prefer working at home, then work at home. We need to be inclusive of people, and let them work the way _they_ best feel productive.

It is unfortunate that people think that it has to be either one or the other.

I think part of the issue, atleast within companies, it does need to be either or. An empty office often isn't any better than WFH for many folk. So if in your company you're in the minority then you might need to get a new job.

There's also the effect of the industry. While flexible working is great (I could already role out of bed and decide to WFH whenever before covid) there's a chance companies might cut back on offices or force bullshit like hot desking.

In the long run I think this'll turn out for the best and the OP is right to be optimistic. But in the short run there may be a lot of turmoil.

> An empty office often isn't any better than WFH for many folk.

That is really their problem. You can't force people to come to the office because you want it "hustling and bustling".

We can debate separately if companies should force people back to office.

But in this case it is an either or. If the advantage of the office comes from being around your team and colleagues then it very much is an either or between home working or everyone being in the office.

It's not wholly binary--maybe 2 scheduled days a week will work for both many of the people who would just as soon mostly work from home and those who want to be in an office with their team. But, in general, yes. A "you can come into an office if you want" policy is probably not going to be very satisfactory for someone who wants a co-located team and much of their team chooses not to come in most days or even live in the same area.

As I've said before, as this shakes out over the next year or two, I suspect a fair number of people who can do so will end up choosing jobs based on remote policies and how companies operate in practice.

> I suspect a fair number of people who can do so will end up choosing jobs based on remote policies and how companies operate in practice.

I think so as well, and honestly I think this is the best outcome. Every company doesn't have to be everything for everyone.

Ya, I used to hate working form home and HATED when my co-workers would (fortunately that wasn't very often). However, I'm LOVING it now that everyone is working from home. I find it crazy awkward when just one or two people are on a screen. It's hard to describe why but I know it's a common feeling. I've even heard of mixed office/remote teams will do all meeting over video chat, even the ones in the office, as it puts everyone on the same level.

Yes, at least one of the teams I worked with--where admittedly most people were remote--had a pre-COVID policy whereby if anyone was calling in remote, everyone had to use their own screen. No calling in from a conference room.

>there's a chance companies might cut back on offices or force bullshit like hot desking.

That seems inevitable at any company where a lot of people aren't using their space most of the time. A company isn't going to indefinitely maintain dedicated space at 25% utilization. Not to say they can't maintain some dedicated space for people who do want to come in 80% of the time. But I expect post-COVID, many offices will look very different although I don't expect many companies to go fully remote.

> If you like working in the office, then work in the office

The thing many people like about the office is that other people are there. This is not just for socializing reasons - for example, junior employees might like more senior ones around to have casual conversations and learn from. So the ones among us that like the office do not just want to be there - they want others to be also there.

I know the directors of a game dev studio who unequivocally admit going remote has increased communication across teams and their studio productivity went up. Keep in mind game devs need close collaboration, yet it's working. There are techniques that have come up to make remote-work work well.

So the directors are looking to maximize work flexibility, by experimenting with just going to the office once or twice a week or something after the vaccine.

Like my dentist told me a few days ago, universal 9-5PM at an office is long gone (and this is a dentist saying that!)

> So the ones among us that like the office do not just want to be there - they want others to be also there.

I mean... too bad? Speaking as someone who prefers to work from home, I hope those people realize that their desire to co-locate with their peers doesn't supersede our desire to work solo. As they say, "it takes two to tango."

I for one am glad that many companies that would normally never consider remote work are now doing so. While I don't have data to back this up, I'd wager that the average company implements co-location more out of reflex or habit than due to a careful comparison of all possible work arrangements.

It's not just about your desire or someone else's desire. It's also about what is best for the company, and in the case of junior engineers learning the tricks of the trade, best for the next generation of tech workers.

> inevitable that companies should stop adopting an inflexible "no remote work" policy

That's an optimistic take. I can totally see this or that manager having a horrible time at home, and as soon as he's back to the office, instituting a "next time we'll rather die here" policy where they stock up on masks and canned food and build a bunker-like environment that he'll never have to leave again.

In the end, execs already worked from wherever they liked. They set up certain policies because they thought they were more productive for the hoi polloi. I don't think the pandemic changed much in that regard, sadly.

I think office work should be an option companies provide, and it should be like an AirOffice, floating, in co-working or "business center" office space, or even ad-hoc such as at such and such a cool, wifi, remote work friendly cafe. I think this is the future of work and that's how I want to run my company when it employs people. I had this idea since around 2010/2011.

I know this won't work for everything. Factories obviously need to be staffed (so far). But for 'knowledge work' we should be able to work anywhere, including, if the need arises, to rent private digs and all get together in person.

Would that be similar to WeWork? I'd want to be in an office with my actual colleagues rather than remote working from a co-working space.

I don't know about them, but if you worked for me and the team you were on agreed, we'd rent you a dedicated office. At the same time, if team wanted to go full remote, or cowork we'd support that. Sort of like how Apple used to take over buildings for a project.

Another idea i had about this was we could also consider RE investment. If we had the cash and the investment made sense, we'd actually buy the floor or whatever, and once our project no longer needed it, we'd rent. I like the idea that overtime the business converts some of its cash into RE, that can act as a buffer for the rest of our income.

Yeah I think there is a pretty huge gap between most people's office/home differences, and what the OP misses:

> I miss occasional after-work drinks at the sky bar with the $18 well drinks that we always convinced management to pay for.

It just took me a dozen emails, 6 phone calls, and 2 tedious in face conversations to get accounting to buy me a single AAAA battery - not AA, not AAA, but AAAA, yes I'm sure, AAAA, yes I only need one. So yeah I don't miss my office.

So. I have to ask, why? A pair seems to be $6 on Amazon. Why wouldn't one simply order it and expense it? And even if expensing weren't possible for some reason, was it really worth your time?

Of course, but at a certain point you think "how many more times can I possibly have to re-confirm this?" and you just let it run its course. To top it off, they bought 2 2-packs. The last battery lasted me 4 years so I guess they're invested until 2036.

> I'd like to think that after the nth discussion of this topic we could all generally agree:

It's either this or the neverending "How do I become more creative", "How do I become more productive", "Tricks to stop using your smartphone", etc...