At least for Bay Area companies, the "hybrid" 2/3 or 3/2 or whatever schemes are insufficient. They partially alleviate the long commute problem, but they do not solve the high cost of living problem. WFH has been nice in that it lets me skip my 4+ hour commute every day, but what would be even better is 0/5, allowing me to completely move out of the Bay Area and still keep my job (at lower comp, fine).

I presume you’re in eng because we’re on HN but are you not? If you’re in the Bay Area, you should be able to afford an okay home here (assuming you stop playing the startup game and join a public tech company). Being only able to afford Tracy or something sounds like very low pay...

My company is going to a 2 days at work and 3 days home setup. But they won't pay for anything except the computer -- if I want a monitor or a docking station I'm on the hook for that, they won't provide it. I recently shelled out for a $500 chair, and I know two colleagues who paid $2-300 for docking stations (I think I'd be happy with a cheaper one, personally).

I think they'll pay for a monitor if you're full-time WFH but that requires special permission.

1. Why? I can live 2 hours from my office and still have a total weekly commute that is less than my pre-pandemic commute. If I can somehow fix an overnight in the city it's even less.

2. This is true, although you get 'reimbursed' for that by not commuting. And since you don't commute you can live somewhere cheaper, or get a bigger house for the same price.

3. My company paid for all that, so no issue here.

Two hours from your office? Is this hyperbole?

If you live two hours from your office and go in for three days per week, that's 2h per leg * 2 legs per day * 3 days per week = 12 hours per week on the road.

You were spending more than 12 hours per week in traffic?

The average commute in the United States is a little less than 30 minutes [1]. That's 5 hours per week for someone who works five days per week.

1. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2021/one-way-...

I used to commute 1 hour one way pre Covid, so 10 hours per week. If I go into the office for only 2 days a week I could live twice as far from my workplace and still only commute 8 hours a week. I was meaning to say that even with 2 days in-Office per week it opens up possibilities regarding housing.

I was spending 1,5 hours per day in a train, and walking to the station for 10 minutes or so, yes.

There are only so many hours in a day. Are you willing to wake up at 5AM to get to the office and be home at 8PM for 2 days a week?