OnlyForNow said:
I think that's the problem, lots of people in my industry are screaming "yes work from home" but we're in consulting and making professional relationships with clients and learning how to conduct, hold and run meetings with multiple stake holders is not something you just start the job with, these "kids" who would otherwise be new middle managers are purposefully leaving opportunities to grow and go work from home typing away at a key board and doing zoom meetings 99% of the time.
I do not see that as a positive as someone who runs a group and is interviewing/hiring.
While it may be different for consulting where client relationships matter, if you are doing technical work the only thing that matters is performing your job. You don't do that necessarily by being in an office. Your job is to design/produce whatever widget you are developing, which is mostly done on a computer these days.
But there is a big divide between boomers that cannot adjust to a remote environment (especially managers), and the actual people coming out of college that want work life balance and remote work helps accomplish that. In an environment with labor shortages, and where the impediments to remote work are low (and where competitors will offer it), you simply cannot mandate that sort of old-guard and stodgy work culture and remain competitive.
I have found that the switch to remote work has been much better when it comes to pointless meetings, distracting cube farm environment with zero privacy, and it has lessened the amount of social conversations. Is it perfect? No, training and mentoring can be more challenging, but I think its one that is overcome with a forward thinking company that puts forth the resources necessary to make it a more common thing. At the very least, you don't need to go into the office 5 days a week. One or two days of "collaboration" days is sufficient. My company has adopted something similar, but I'll be honest that those days my team is not nearly as productive.