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Comment by MattGaiser | Hacker News Reader

> that workers want to be able to work remotely is going to struggle to find talent.

I suspect that there will be a large split here. My company reopened offices for any volunteers who were interested.

You couldn’t have meetings in person. You couldn’t have lunch with people. But plenty of people still went in anyway.

There are many lonely people who have nothing but work as their lives. No friends, little family, no hobbies or interests to keep them busy. The workplace is their life.

On the other hand, there are plenty of people who have hectic home lives (young kids, etc), and are much more productive being able to get out of the house and into the office.

I’m sure there are many many more reasons for enjoying a return to the office.

There are also people who actually enjoy face-to-face interactions with coworkers/clients and working together in the same physical space. Even with friends and hobbies, for many careers, WFH still means spending most of your day in relative isolation.

That's great for some people, but looking at everyone else, I'd imagine there's a split between people who _only_ have meaningful social interactions at work and people who just happen to _enjoy_ it.

This has always struck me as both something strongly encouraged by management (“we’re like family here!”) and extremely dangerous. Anyone living this way is risking having their life ripped away from them the moment their labor is no longer convenient for their employer.

Best to leave work as purely economic, and satisfy as many emotional requirements as is feasible in other places.

Yes, this will probably play out in a number of different ways. You'll have people who don't want to be forced back into an office at least part-time at one group of companies. And you'll have other people who don't want to go back to a company that basically doesn't have much of an office culture any longer and necessitates most meetings still happening over video.

I think companies will need to decide and split. Hybrid is going to be hard on those who really like that in person interaction.

Although I'd point out that many companies were pretty hybrid before this between people traveling, people in different offices, and, yes, people remote. Even if I went into our local office pre-pandemic, only a few people I work with are there and I don't actually even know most people in the office. I don't disagree though. This was sort of my point. People who don't want remote or hybrid will have to seek out companies with stronger butt-in-seats cultures.

It's also hard for people who don't need an office or in-person interaction with coworkers. It should be opt-in rather than hybrid; socialites can hang out with each other, so there's no need to force everyone else to go through commuting, dressing up, and sitting in an office around people all day.

Fair point. I did not intend to be as blanketing as I was. I assume there are a number of people who would not mind going back into the office. I think my point still stands, as long as employees do not have an option, some will leave.

Oh certainly. I can see a lot of companies basically splitting in half on what their engineering teams want.

Introverts vs extroverts

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