Maybe. I do think there are a fair number of people who recognize there are downsides to never seeing coworkers in person. But, given the option, it's a tradeoff they'll make so they don't need to commute.
I don't understand why it is always either working in the office or "never seeing coworkers in person". I work remotely full time, and every three months, we gather with my team for a couple of days.
Those gatherings are great. Working with my team remotely is also great.
The team is very distributed at this point and budgets pretty much preclude traveling for team get-togethers. (Which I agree can be a fairly satisfying alternative to coming into an office 2 or 3 days a week.) But as it is, probably most of the people I work with I have never met in person.
I don't even need video. Worked closely with a guy for a couple years, only when I left the company and added him on linkedin did I learn he was black. There really wasn't a need for me to know much about him to get our work done.
No. But you probably do if you go out to dinner or some event with them. Over the years,I found that I could have most of my contact by phone but it really helped to have spent some some with someone in person.
