Importantly, remote-first has drawn back the curtain on the simple reality that "engagement" is a euphemism for extracting uncompensated value out of an employee by pretending that work is fun, the mission is vital, and everyone is friends.
Work is unpleasant, that's why people are paid for it. The "mission" is to create fake demand for yet another useless, overpriced service. And we're not friends, just give me my paycheck and get on with it.
If you want proper output from your employees, compensate them for the value they create. If you can't measure value, I don't know how you're running a software company.