I understand the employee argument. There’s no real reason to drive an hour just to sit in a cubicle and log into Teams meetings all day. It feels inefficient. It feels unnecessary. And yes, on some level, it does feel like control.

And to be fair, that’s not entirely wrong.

There is a trust component here. But maybe not in the way people think.  It’s easy to say, “My boss just doesn’t trust me.” The reality is a little more complicated than that. Working from home requires a level of discipline that is… honestly, pretty rare. I’ve been working remotely for 25 years, and I still fail at it sometimes.  Recently, I even invested in flex space just to give myself somewhere else to go and I know exactly what I’m supposed to be doing.

From the employee side, I get it. Staring at spreadsheets or building slide decks all day isn’t exactly energizing work. Sometimes you need a reset—throw in a load of laundry, walk the dog, step away for a minute so you can come back with a functioning brain.

Other times, it’s not even about a break. It’s life logistics. You finally have the ability to go to the dentist without blocking half your day. You can make it to your kid’s soccer practice in between meetings instead of missing it entirely. That flexibility matters a lot and I’m not dismissing that. I actually think it’s one of the biggest benefits of remote work.

But here’s the part that doesn’t get talked about enough. As an employer, I’ve repeatedly seen employees fall short of their role expectations while fully believing they’re doing a great job.

Not because they’re bad employees, not because they don’t care, because they don’t realize how much of their time and attention is being pulled somewhere else.

In an office, when you’re procrastinating (which everyone does), your options are pretty limited.

You chat with coworkers.
You wander a bit
You maybe reorganize something that didn’t urgently need reorganizing.

Eventually, out of boredom, if nothing else, you pick up something productive. Even the “wasted” time is useful - those random conversations build relationships, and those relationships make companies function better.

At home, there are no such boundaries. If you’re avoiding something, you don’t just have a hallway, you have your entire life sitting right there, quietly waiting to be handled. Laundry. Dishes. Errands. Deliveries. Kids. Pets. Even with the best intentions and a properly set up home office, there are interruptions you can’t - and shouldn't - ignore. I don’t know a single parent who would ignore their child knocking on the door in the middle of the workday. I don’t know many pet owners who would either, at least not for long. And every time you stop, I've read it takes 20 minutes it takes to get your brain back into what you were doing so all those "quick 5 minute things" really take a toll on your productivity.

I’ve also noticed something else - Remote workers tend to reach out less. Fewer quick questions. Fewer “can you take a look at this?” moments. Fewer casual check-ins that keep things moving.
It doesn’t feel like a big deal in the moment, but over time small issues take longer to solve and work slows down in subtle ways. People miss opportunities to learn from each other and the tricky part is that most people don’t even realize it’s happening.

So even though companies pushing for a hybrid model are called out as being resistance to change. from the employer side it’s an attempt at compromise to get some of that structure back. The kind that helps people stay focused, collaborate naturally, and fill in the small gaps before they turn into bigger problems.

It’s not perfect.
But it’s practical.

The real answer probably isn’t fully remote or fully in-office. It’s acknowledging that working from home is harder than most people expect, and designing around that reality instead of pretending it doesn’t exist. I understand why employees push back against going back to the office full time. I also understand why employers are pushing just as hard in the other direction. The companies that get this right won’t be the ones arguing the loudest about remote vs. office. They’ll be the ones honest enough to account for human behavior—and practical enough to build around it.