https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/30/return-to-office-is-dead-stanford-economist-says-heres-why.html
The share of workers being called back to the office has flatlined, suggesting remote work is an entrenched feature of the U.S. labor market.
This is the second order effect that doesn't seem to have been at the centre of the conversation. It's all very well if you are an established company who took out an office lease at the beginning of the 2020s, you have a bunch of boomer managers who basically need daycare, and the HIPPO at the top is also a boomer acting all entitled about having people come back to the office.
It's something else. When you're starting a new business and seeking investment capital, do you think your investors are going to want to spend their money on office accommodation and ability staff like receptionists, cleaners etc, if they think they can get equal or better results without it?
Not only that, but if you insist on being in an office you restrict your pool of potential employees. Not only can you only look in within 1-2 hours of the office, you are also only getting people who can't find WFH positions. So you have a smaller pool of worse talent.
And if you're in a big metro area you need to pay them a lot more just to live there, whereas a fully remote position can hire people who live in the middle of nowhere and pay them less for better work.