I think that most people that hate working in the office don't hate it because of the office - they hate it because of focus quality. A social obligation here,

I think that most people that hate working in the office don't hate it because of the office - they hate it because of focus quality. A social obligation here, a senseless chat there, a coffee here...a person reminding you about an unimportant email there. There are just way too many distractions from work, at work. And those distractions are what people describe as "corporate life" because corporates over-micro-managed everything. Open office spaces are horrible, except for the people not having to work in them - which coincidentially always decide pro open office work space. If the work culture is manifested in interrupting your colleagues over unimportant stuff all the time, it's perceived as toxic by engineering people because they lose valueable focus time. That is essentially what it boils down to. Add the additional time required to get there (and costs on the side of the employee for commute) and you have the perfect formula to get rid of quality work people. While there are upsides of working in the office, there's also huge downsides that management likes to ignore in the discussion.