All these issues around “I like it my way and everyone should do it that way” issues have a very simple solution: let the adult people you hired decide for themselves! Make presence in the office entirely optional and see what happens. Those who can’t live without being in the office can come in every single day, those that hate it can never come, and those who want 1/2/3/4 days a week can also do it.

I agree it's true for "some" people. Not for "most"

"spending time with family" - no, I'm single and alone and so are most of my co-workers

"living in a nicer / cheaper location" - no, my office is nicer than my home and same for most of my co-workers.

Your situation and needs are different than mine apparently.

Is long commute something that's normal for "most people"? Most people around here have commutes shorter than 30 minutes one way.

Commute length and comfort is often inversely proportional to income.

Sometimes you end up in a job with no good transit routes from where you can afford to live, so you have to drive hours a day. Search the web for stories about "supercommuters".

Compared to any of that, a 30 min bike ride is downright lovely.

This is the thing, right. The problem isn't remote or office per se, it's the commute to and from the office that's the issue. I can definitely focus more at home, but I really miss my 30 minute bike commute.

>I really miss my 30 minute bike commute.

I've seen this argument before, and I don't understand how working from home changes this honestly.

Why not just start your day with a bike ride for leisure? Unbound by the location of your office you can now cycle to any arbitrary location. If you struggle to do it without a reason, perhaps cycle to a bakery or store and pickup some fresh food for the day.

> Why not just start your day with a bike ride for leisure? Unbound by the location of your office you can now cycle to any arbitrary location. If you struggle to do it without a reason, perhaps cycle to a bakery or store and pickup some fresh food for the day.

For me, it's a motivation issue. I had to go to work and had to cycle/walk there. Now, going out in the morning is optional. If I stayed up too late or if the weather is bad (it's almost always bad in Scotland) I'll make an excuse and not go out. After doing it a few times, I broke my morning habit and it's extremely difficult to force myself to go out.

I know it doesn't really make sense but that just adds to frustration. I hate that I cannot force myself to do daily exercise and it makes me feel like shit, creating a sort of feedback loop. I don't go out and do exercise because I feel like shit and I feel more shit because I don't exercise.

Once the pandemic is over and if still WFH, get a spot at a coworking space. This is what I been doing for years.

Alternatively find a coffee shop, ride there for your morning fix of caffeine.

It's much easier to do something when you have no choice but to do it. If you have to commute to office, you have to do it, period. If you want to do "virtual commute time" when working from home, you have to somehow justify it to yourself (and your spouse), against the ongoing pressure of thoughts and words like, "I can skip my 'commute' this time to do just this one errand / complete this one task / read this HN article...".

If it's not a necessity, it's hard for people to maintain habits, particularly physical ones. The reality is many people are just not very disciplined if there's not an outside factor forcing them into it.

There are many comments here about missing their commutes as they could meditate/reflect on things, etc. One can quite easily do this with meditation or walking/running/biking for ~30 mins. However it takes discipline to carve out that 30 mins and leave it specifically for meditation or whatever.

> I'm convinced that most people need at least a couple of days per week of social office time for their own sanity.

"A couple" can mean anything from two to full week. I can assure you that at least for some people one day is enough.