I think the effect of remote-only onboarding will be seen mostly in junior hires, since they do not have much experience in getting up to speed with a company's

I think the effect of remote-only onboarding will be seen mostly in junior hires, since they do not have much experience in getting up to speed with a company's tech and its culture. As a senior dev about to start a new remote position at a company that's still mostly non-distributed, I'm probably a little more nervous than I've been at previous first days, but I think the bigger risk is that I'm considered a more distant team member if ever there were cutbacks. But I guess that's less of a risk if you can provide unique value in a specialized role.