What about people for whom WFH means less, or no, productivity? Lots of my colleagues are willing to brave the commute in order to be in an environment that is focused on the business at hand.
This is the group I think will hold out the longest, the people who need a reliable, socially accepted way to escape their home environment. When they say 'focus on the business at hand' they really mean 'not distracted by my home'.
I don't think businesses will continue to provide for these employees after the commercial real estate correction. In time, having an office flips into a multi-faceted liability.
But until that happens, the leases were already signed so let the good times roll. These employees and employers form a complementary artificial need for an office.
Why is that not a good reason? Our surrounding very much impacts many of our thinking, productivity. And some people do benefit from a focused environment, you can't really dismiss that as "artificial need".
My thinking is that employers can pass this burden off to the employee, so they will. (Once they are done worrying about being underwater on real estate.)
If you can't work well from home, but your company is remote, you will be an underperformer. It would be your responsibility to rent a co-working space (cheaper than most monthly commute costs) or create a home office.
The artificial need isn't the mental space to concentrate; it's that your employer has to provide that for you.
To concentrate you don't only need mental space, you need a very physical one too, and it's much more expensive than what you make it to be. Of course they'll externalize this cost when they can, but I don't see it as a good thing.
Well then cater to those people without negatively affecting others who can concentrate at home. The options are many like satellite offices or shared workspaces.
