The pro remote work viewpoints on HN seem like experienced developers, probably with families, often with terrible commutes externalizing the costs of what’s apparently good for them personally to their colleagues and peers:
* removing an outlet for socializing for people that are new to the area / country and don’t have friends.
* lack of face to face team bonding for new employees.
* lack of personal social contact for an activity we typically spend 1/3 of our day on.
* reduced ability to learn by absorbing what happens around oneself.
* higher competition for junior and mid-career positions from other countries.
New employees, particularly at the beginning of their careers are disproportionately negatively affected by remote work. And while many of the disadvantages I’ve mentioned above can be mitigated, remote work nudges all these aspects towards the negative. These nudges when applied at large scale add up.
Like anything, remote work has downsides which are often downplayed by those with an interest to gain an advantage for themselves.
Saying that in-person work is more productive is all very well, but this discussion is about remote work being bad for the economy because people aren't buying lunch, companies aren't leasing offices, etc., which is just another instance of the broken window fallacy.
Remote work also means less competition for urban real estate, meaning people who want outlets for socializing, who want to network and go out for drinks, can do so easier!
If remote-first workers are able to stay at home, demand decreases. Prices drop. More early-career folk can actually afford to live in the city, including artists and not-developers, meaning more friendships and business relationships can bloom.
This means needing to substitute using a co-working space or local professional organizations for social time instead of the experience being automatically built into a job. Nonetheless, this is a useful sorting function so young professionals can select into the type of mentoring they want, instead of being forced into mentors-of-convenience.
I can imagine a different solution that would allow work from home and still solve many of the problems you mentioned.
The idea is to decouple "the company you work for" from "the place you work at" for everyone, including those who want to work in an office. Basically, coworking places everywhere. You sign a contract with the company. You either work from home, or find a coworking place where you rent a desk, or coordinate with some of your colleagues to rent a desk at the same place. You could make a different choice on different days.
> removing an outlet for socializing for people that are new to the area / country and don’t have friends
The coworking places would have quiet desks, and also rooms to chat, with sound isolation. Whenever you want to get social, you walk to the room, and socialize. You can meet people who work at the same company, or people who work at different companies. When you feel like working again, walk back to your desk.
> lack of face to face team bonding for new employees
People working at the same company could agree to spend one day in a week at the same coworking place. This could be flexible, like if the company has 1000 employees, but your team has 10, only those 10 people need to coordinate together.
> reduced ability to learn by absorbing what happens around oneself
Either coordinate with your colleagues, or share the screen remotely. I learned a few things by watching my colleagues do things on their computers in a different country.
> higher competition for junior and mid-career positions from other countries
Well, yes. More opportunities for someone means more competition for someone else. That said, many companies found out that hiring people from other countries has its own challenges, so you will always have an advantage of being local.
Most of these can largely be mitigated if teams/organizations intentionally support socializing and interaction. For example - the team I'm currently on hold all meetings with cameras turned on (it's the social norm, not an official policy); twice a week we hold a "social programming" session which is more for idle chitchat than being productive; and we encourage pairing and group work - not because we think it's more productive (it may or may not be) but because it's sometimes more enjoyable or less frustrating.
On the flip side, a former shop basically treated remote workers as if we were robots. Everything was about 'productivity'. One of the most inhumane places I've been.
* removing an outlet for socializing for people that are new to the area / country and don’t have friends.
* lack of face to face team bonding for new employees.
* lack of personal social contact for an activity we typically spend 1/3 of our day on.
* reduced ability to learn by absorbing what happens around oneself.
* higher competition for junior and mid-career positions from other countries.
New employees, particularly at the beginning of their careers are disproportionately negatively affected by remote work. And while many of the disadvantages I’ve mentioned above can be mitigated, remote work nudges all these aspects towards the negative. These nudges when applied at large scale add up.
Like anything, remote work has downsides which are often downplayed by those with an interest to gain an advantage for themselves.