Not to out myself too much, but my Amazon office is a mix of SDE and TAM. When in office I get to enjoy "Jim" talking to a customer while I'm trying to work. "Brad" opening the windows because he's wearing a suit (customer meeting) in the middle of the Canadian winter and 4 people having a loud meeting at their desks because there are not enough phone booths for everyone. All the desks are "agile" so if I have another member of my team we need to find a spot with two free desks.
That's what I'm working with here. So it angers me deeply that they could even suggest that this is in anyway better than my home office with a good mic and webcam.
Ours is perfect to balance people at the office and remote. It literally feels like made on purpose for hybrid work.
Meeting rooms have gigantic screens, smart cameras that focus on whomever is talking, good sound and connectivity. There are many assigned desks but most aren't, and it's no problem because it rarely gets crowded. There's always place for when people come from other sites, and there's always an empty room nearby for focused work, phone calls, improvised discussions and what not. I'd say it's on average at 30% capacity
Now if people have to come back, I'll hate it. There's no point in the screens and sound, nothing is spacious anymore, most desk will be assigned, rooms will be taken up and we'll start navigating floors, and everything will become a drag like any other crammed up workplace.
That's what I'm working with here. So it angers me deeply that they could even suggest that this is in anyway better than my home office with a good mic and webcam.