I generally think for many jobs, in-person is actually better.
SWE in a place with good process, remote is probably fine. Generally similar for jobs with clear deliverables on that kind of time scale. if it's more research oriented, there is a huge benefit to being in-person in front of a whiteboard. For a job with shifting requirements day to day (like some legal or banking work), it is easier to coordinate everyone in the same office.
unclear if this overcomes cost to employees of the commute, housing, etc., but the value is there.
however there is also "worst of all possible worlds" RTO, where you have to commute to the office because the office is the place you are required to sit for your 4+ hours of Zoom calls per day with other colleagues in other offices. I expect a lot of companies are going to do this, which is totally stupid.
SWE in a place with good process, remote is probably fine. Generally similar for jobs with clear deliverables on that kind of time scale. if it's more research oriented, there is a huge benefit to being in-person in front of a whiteboard. For a job with shifting requirements day to day (like some legal or banking work), it is easier to coordinate everyone in the same office.
unclear if this overcomes cost to employees of the commute, housing, etc., but the value is there.
however there is also "worst of all possible worlds" RTO, where you have to commute to the office because the office is the place you are required to sit for your 4+ hours of Zoom calls per day with other colleagues in other offices. I expect a lot of companies are going to do this, which is totally stupid.