Remote First at Quora

The fact that you can't work at a place unless you get some shot of dopamine associated with the perception of "this is worth it" doesn't mean everyone has that particular hang-up.

Ultimately, what do you get out of "this is worth it"? You don't get anything. Or, rather, the important thing you get is a paycheck, just like everyone else.

You'll answer, "I get the satisfaction that..." That dopamine addiction isn't any more meaningful than a cigarette hit.

When our ancestors were out hunting mammoths I imagine there was one who said to the others, "I hate this shit. Don't you think we should be spending time doing something we like?" And his friend said "Meh. It's not bad, and I like to eat."

> Its even worse if your in a couple or a flat share where several people are competing for space and wifi

Again, we refer back to "it depends". My partner and I live in a 2 bedroom apartment, we now have dedicated proper-sized desks in the living room and in the spare room.

Appreciate not everyone has the space to do that, but that's kinda the point. I'm not really an advocate for full time remote myself, I think agile working is the best of both worlds.

The company has an office with maybe 50% desk capacity for employees, then employees cycle in and out throughout the week on a cadence that suits them. Everything's still set up to be remote-first (virtual meetings, no massive in-person all-hands etc...) but you can choose to use an office or your home. Or a coffee shop, or an airport lounge, or a park, or...

(and in before "what if everyone comes in on the same day" - I used to work in a place that had 60% the number of desks for employees, I never once struggled to find a place to sit. To the extent they're subletting a whole floor due to lack of usage).

There's also nothing stopping companies paying a coworking stipend to those that want it in lieu of an office. And booking out a large conference hall once a year for everyone to come together.

Essentially, most things are at least semi-solvable and no decision on the future of work should be taken based solely on how we've currently set ourselves up.

I don't doubt lots of companies are providing terrible work from home experiences right now but if you're lucky to work for an all remote company from before COVID a lot of your criticism doesn't ring true for me at least. I'm sure there are people it just doesn't work for though, and I respect that might be the case for you. I just don't think a blanket statement "remote work doesn't work in the long term" is very likely to be true.