I have a friend who works as an analyst at a company that discourages remote work, even though there is nothing stopping them from doing it other than a "butts-

I have a friend who works as an analyst at a company that discourages remote work, even though there is nothing stopping them from doing it other than a "butts-in-seats" mentality, and because of this, when they are finally forced to have everyone work from home because of the pandemic, productivity really does plummet because everyone was trained up until then to think "work from home" meant a free vacation day, and are having a hard time adjusting. I would imagine this would be the case for a lot of places that do not have a good remote culture. Contrast that with mine, who strongly encourages us to spend at least a few days a week in-office, but by the same token has a good remote culture otherwise. Going full remote wasn't much of a big deal for us. Lesson here is that even if you do as an organization have a strong preference for in-person interactions (and personally I like having an office to go to), enabling a part-time remote culture can make your organization much more resilient, not to mention one with happier employees. Another anecdote, a few years ago I suffered an injury that kept me more or less on the couch and unable to drive. Without an effective remote culture it would have been very tough on both me and my employer to keep the relationship going, but fortunately it worked out just fine. Remote life is a reality as we move more and more to a tech-focused economy. Hopefully this is a catalyst for more employers to rethink their outdated attitudes.