That's the perception we have in our groups. We meet up weekly face to face to share air when possible.
Seriously, does half of HN work in the real-life equivalent of "The Office"? Yes, office politics exist, but this idea that it's some sort of scheming, back-stabbing environment is a caricature I have never experienced in my nearly 30 year career.
Bullying? I've had it done to me and another time had to sit in with HR on someone else's behalf.
People being performance managed just because? I saw a bunch of 40 somethings get targeted and zeroed out. It got ugly.
30x1 is not the same as 1x30 or 6x5 or 15x2 or 10x3. They all look like the same equation but the experiences can be vastly different.
Inserted edit: I notice you didn't comment on bullying. That's awkward over a zoom. At least one boss of someone I know has found out the hard way. Especially on playback.
The mind set changes when you start self organising because you're alone in a room. It's a different dynamic.
The gig economy has a lot of twists and turns. Less old guarantees but some interesting new ones.
I get that some people want to put their head down and grind for 8 hours a day then move on with their lives, but I tend to prefer at least knowing who I work with. I work at a small company, well under 100 people, and haven't met half of them.
But 30% of the time? Or 20%? For plenty of people this won't seem weird. Spending two days per week working from home won't be strange.
I work remote now. While I still see a need for in-person catch-ups this doesn't include any need for the classic daily commute. That, for me and many others, at least, is now dead.
It doesn't magically go away, it just keeps happening, almost certainly to your detriment.