Seems like a pretty coarse level of analysis asking if “in-person” is better. What’s more productive for a manager will be different, maybe the exact opposite of what’s productive for a programmer. Some people get paid to talk, but many of us do not. The talking is paid for by our sacrifice of personal time, time spent with kids, or exercising or whatever. Managers, being decision makers, will push us back to offices because they benefit from it, because they are paid to talk. Something to be sensitive to, if you’re not already.
I agree with you that productivity for managers versus programmers is different, but my view is that the majority of workers do more work in person and people actually really enjoy being productive! The “body doubling” that goes on in offices is IMHO an underestimated phenomenon, especially for new employees coming into the workforce. For remote work to be a permanent choice, I think we need to be a bit more honest about the benefits of being in-office. Giving employees the choice is very important to me, just trying to give my perspective.
That sounds like the right orientation to me. There’s a lot of importance in hearing the disagreements, because for many the reality is that returning to the office means lowered productivity and we all want to believe that our productivity matters. If we are more productive at home but management pushes us back in, the only sane conclusion is that our productivity is not actually what matters, rather our sitting in some glassy air conditioned building somewhere keeping up appearances. Of course reality is somewhere in between.
In my view majority of workers are as productive at home as they are in the office or more. The “body doubling” also happens at home, when more family members work from home. There is also much less interruptions and noise polution at home. We should also not pretend office work is without serious down sides compared to work from home. E.g. so much time wasted in traffic.
And I respect your view that generally workers are more productive at home. We can agree to disagree there. Also, work commutes in traffic are indeed silly.
This post is about body doubling, which happens far more in offices. That is a fact. Your reply makes it seem like that’s not the case. But, I agree with your gripes about in office work, which is why I work from home :)
Edit: my point is that what’s best for you, me, and other individuals may not be best for organizations. Do I care about organizations more than myself? No, but it’s at least something to recognize because I still care for some of them.
