>> remote is far less effective

I think it depends on the type of work, personality of workers and maybe other factors. For example, I used to work in a team where we were each doing separate part of the thing and it was not too beneficial to talk about work. Sure, we talked in the office, but mostly about movies, personal stories and stuff like that. I did a lot more work from home because the office environment was distractive and I get distracted easily. I can imagine that remote would be far less effective if I worked in a different department.