For YEARS now, the #1 most reliable way to see your username on the front page of HN is to post a link about David Heinemeier Hansson promoting remote work, or a story skewering Marissa Mayer for squashing it at Yahoo.
It's only after 12 months of sitting at home in our sweatpants going crazy, that I'm starting to see more people discuss offices a bit wistfully.
There is a huge difference between advocating for the option to WFH for yourself and arguing to force everyone to WFH. Few if any are advocates for the latter.
The thing is, 100% WFH means that you probably kneecap your career if the others don't do the same.
Mixed environments are significantly more difficult to sustain. FTF discussions are such big wins when it comes to volume of information shared and ability to quickly redirect to other topics as needed, that the employees who are remote will often find themselves cut out of the loop entirely.
So, given the choice, I'd much rather work for a remote-only company than be left out of the important conversations. It's not a deliberate decision to exclude the remote workers, it just happens naturally.
(As I said elsewhere, it's possible that will change post-pandemic, but I think that it's mostly an inevitable outcome of the typical office dynamics.)
Remote-first companies have specific policies about meetings and unscheduled conversations. For example, all meetings must be announced, available over video, recorded, with a write up at the end. All spontaneous chats happen over email, slack, or a wiki to make sure they are documented.
This levels the playing field for anyone working remote, so that they aren't completely isolated or left out of important decisions by those in the office.
That's just anti-human. I'm all for working from home but people in the office are going to chat just as the people working from home are going too. The bitch sessions about the boss just happen in the 1 on 1 video calls.
REI sold their corporate campus in a move to 100% WFH:
We have made the decision to pursue a sale of our buildings and land in Bellevue’s Spring District—and, with that sale, to step toward a new model for our headquarters that will better serve the way we live, work and act as a force for positive change.
Remote working will move from a temporary solve to a more engrained, supported, and normalized model for many of our headquarters employees.
Target recently sold its downtown offices as well:
Minnesota-based Target says that flexibility is behind the decision to shut down the company's City Center operation in downtown Minneapolis, and relocate 3,500 employees to other locations in the city and elsewhere.
"None of us knew what the future would hold or how long we’d be working from home, but in just one year we’ve proven that we can drive incredible results, together, from our kitchens and basements and living rooms," Kremer wrote in her email.
With the end of the pandemic hopefully in site, Kremer says Target is moving toward a hybrid system called "Flex for Your Day" that will incorporate both virtual and on-site work and collaboration when employees "gradually return to headquarters later this year."
Capitol One is doing the same thing:
Capital One Financial Corp. said the majority of employees at its U.S. call centers for cards will work from home even after the coronavirus pandemic ends.
For the rest of its staff, the card giant extended remote operations until the end of March, according to an internal memo. Capital One had previously said employees would work remotely until at least the end of this year.