I think I'm not alone in dreading working from home and being by myself in the office is not much better. What I really want is to work with other people at the same place.
I think the rub is that often the office crowd, in order to get their office, have to drag the remote crowd with them otherwise they're not getting what they want out of the office experience.
Personally speaking, I will never work in an office again. I get more done working from home, I video chat with my colleagues all the time - even pairing, I meet up with them in cool places 2-4 times a year, and I have way more time for gardening, house projects, pets, and my partner without a 1-4 hour commute in a 24 hour day.
There might be a good business opportunity: Offer a "staff" of paid actors to go into a business, and walk around, having hallway and water cooler conversations, maybe drawing on whiteboards, and imitating the "buzz" of a robust office environment. That way, the people who like the office can bask in the ambience of a busy office, without having to force employees into the office that have no interest in that ambience!
People who demand their coworkers come into the office though- well, it's not something I've personally seen, but it would make me think the person is a bit of a control freak.
A company where remote work is the exception (you need to wait for a parcel one day or something like that) appeals to me much more than a hybrid model. A full remote job I'd only consider it I were desperate.
Woe betide you if you try that even sat next to me in an open plan office. Your convenience is not my top priority when I have other things I want to be doing. There’s a reason that noise cancelling headphones are such a common sight in such places.
You still spend lots of times in meetings in front of your computer, can't take those meetings in person, often can't solve quick issues on the way to lunch, and can't socialize with the people you are working with (which leads to getting to know people much quicker which IMHO makes working with people a lot easier).
Companies with bad cultures are going to have bad times regardless, culture definitely has to be managed. It is possible to build a remote or hybrid culture that works though.
It's obviously all doable, but some people find that setup impersonal and annoying. Meanwhile, I have no trouble going to the office. It's nice to get out of the house, walk a bit. See other people going to work as well in the public transport. It all feels good to me.
Everybody at home and using online chat tools to connect and work together works great, having your coworkers sitting next to you so you can have spontaneous meetings about technical details works great. But having two in the office and one online is awkward.
Maybe we should separate into fully remote and fully at the office companies.
For the record, WFH works great for me, but I also appreciate our one day per week at the office where I can see (nearly) all of my coworkers in real life.