In-person interaction fulfills our innate biological desire for community.

Remote work is just a means of earning income.

You are comparing apples to oranges by assuming there is some relation between online chatting and remote working.

I dont need to meet coworkers every day to have meaningful biological relationships and communities.

Companies need you, its not about you needing company.

That's a "Behold a man" kinda problem, isn't it?

That is the exact assertion for exactly the same reasons. Remote work may work for you (much like chatting) but you are giving up a lot of communication richness in the process.

Working from home has very real trade offs that may work for you and your team, but it is no substitute for working and especially meeting in person. It primarily impacts communication efficacy, which for many larger teams is already the limiting factor.

The friend clique loyalty stuff that body language communicates at work is bad for the company and anyone who doesn't win it. In contrast it's the core of social life. That "communication efficacy" is something that work would be better and fairer without and humans can't exist without... I feel very sorry for anyone who due to their long hours or bad home situation cannot separate them but I don't want to suffer because of that.

Yeah, communication is so much better with Dale's after lunch Cheeto breath to go with your stand-up meeting before going back to your soulless cubicle. /s

You're describing the way normies work, and that's greta but not everyone is NT.

I was not aware that good work stopped being done for about 2 years during COVID when most people were remote. I learn something new everyday on HN.

It isn't, and I think we should be frank about that.

And to be frank the thing is people are caring less and less about work. Spending power of the working class has decreased as company profits soar. Layoffs are rampant, pensions are dead, and interviewing is its own chore also enabled by an enshittified app. We should stop sugarcoating it and just lay it out: companies don't care anymore so why should workers? If spending power is falling and work doesn't want to increase income, the next best thing is getting back your time.

And the thing that makes it different from dating is that a long distance relationship is extremely hard to maintain, especially if you want plans like family or intimate dates or whatnot. My workplace is not a romantic relationship; I do work for agreed upon pay and the work benefits if that pay still ends up bringing more value than they pay me. I benefit from a variety of factors depending on my person; growth, money, environment, personal fulfillment, etc. take your pick. Some of those require a physical office more than others. My desires don't require it (even if it would be convenient).