Work from home works. It works far effectively than many people would like to admit. I think people who love work from office are also the ones who were in favor of open office plans. When open offices happened, we the ones who did not like open offices adapted as per your requirements. I guess now it's your turn to adapt?
I want to know what decides which side you are on perhaps introversion and extroversion traits? I am Introvert. Thoughts?
I would otherwise be spending nearly 100% of my time in my apartment, not getting even the smallest amount of exercise, fresh air, or social interaction, and dealing with noise and interruptions from my wife and dog. Also, I live a 5-minute drive or a 25-minute walk (!) away from work. It gives me a reason to get up in the morning, shower, put on something other than sweat pants, and go outside. My workplace is somewhat more quiet and comfortable, it provides drinks and sometimes food, and I find meetings a bit more engaging in person.
It ultimately comes down to individual situations and preferences.
I suspect this is how everybody who likes the office feels like - they don't want to stay at home because their life would be miserable if they do.
But I want people to be aware that there are people who feel equally strong about how going to the office makes them feel equally miserable. Some reasons: constant interruptions by noise, movements, smells, constant feeling of not making progress in learning something or accomplishing something, constant awareness of watching people suck up to the boss and other "important" people in a way that is fake and just career building, etc.
There is an awesome YouTuber named Joshua Fluke that has been very open for years about how the office is extreamly cringe once you get some distance to it: https://youtube.com/c/JoshuaFluke1
30 minutes by car isn't a bad commute. But it's enough that I don't see a reason to do it if there's no real benefit. (Most of the people I work with are in different offices or remote.)
Some of those conditions no longer exist, but like Chesterton's fence, we're hesitant to get rid of the physical and cultural manifestations of the mass-office if we can't figure out why it existed in the first place.
One seemingly obvious reason was that people needed access to the tools and materials of their work. (Before ca. 1990, information was a "material"). And there was really only one practical means for workers to interact and share information in groups.
The rest is history. ;-)
Some people adapted their work and life to the mass-office, others didn't. The person whose day care is across the street from the office has made such an adaptation. For others, the mass-office was a hell that they tolerated because they needed the money, e.g., with continual distraction and hours of commuting per week as a form of unpaid labor.
Then the pandemic threw everything into disarray and pressed a giant Reset button.
Today, I think it's fair to say that we don't know what works. The mass-office worked for some but not others. I have little doubt that working from home will work for some but not for others. None of us know what new adaptations will emerge, or how management will adapt.
So far management wants to hang onto the habits that they were familiar with, so they want us back in the office, but they can't articulate why. The "collaboration" argument was used to herd us into open plan offices, with a possible negative effect on collaboration, so that card has been played.
We don't know what management techniques will work in the new environment. The factory style "line foreman" was an easy role to fill with a large cadre of minimally educated workers. At my own workplace, the teams that transitioned the most successfully to remote work were the ones where people were largely self directed in the first place.
Not many people have their life mission as sitting in meetings talking about company goals not being met and trying to care about the owners not getting more successful and rich.
For many months news outlets have been pushing work-from-office narratives. The PR companies that want people to go to another location to work (the ones that represent office building companies, starbucks, etc) create stores, images, quotes etc, all ready to publish, allowing a news site to slap a byline on, and they get their narrative out - "Churnalism"
Children. Consistently I have noted that people who like going to the office, and work in general for that matter, almost always have children.
I just work better if I go to "work place" work and then come home. Yes, I could get a new living place with an extra room for an office, but at that point I'm subsidizing my employer quite a lot.
The office is one of the last socializing places for adults
But if you like to be alone and at home, that is great
"Remote work lifestyle" is what you make of it. During lockdown, many of us were forced into -a- lifestyle. People adapted how they could to the new circumstances, some developed healthy habits, others less so. Now circumstances changed again, but it does not constitute a break, like lockdown did. Point being, you need to look at what you're allowed to do (and okay with doing!) in the current context, and incorporate that in your life.
If you work with other people, there will likely be others that enjoy physically socializing. Try pushing for a slack/discord/whatever platform you use channel for people to schedule out-of-work meetings. Sell it (if you have to) as teambuilding. This kind of thing has existed in many workplaces I've had knowledge of with (and even without!) remote workers.
As an example, a friend's team had a couple of people who lived alone in town craving social contact; so they started scheduling Friday night dinners/late night talks at each of their houses in turn. The other members of the team have patios, so they can just sit outside, drink some beers, and do the socializing there. Sometimes they go out to restaurants, other times they order in some pizza. It works, and it created a much more positive team environment between everyone.
Now, that might not necessarily be you - and it may actually be that you're one of those people that fully remote work doesn't work for - in which case not a ton can be done, and I'm sure there will be workplaces that will accommodate you. I'd even daresay those will be the majority. But you can give it a try, if you see any benefits at all from remote work.
Finding a new daycare where I live would be very difficult, as there is a severe shortage of daycare spots here, with several years long waitlists.
People who want to work remotely aren't interested in forcing others to do so.