Count me as anecdotal evidence in the 35+ bucket of those who went from full remote to hybrid and highly prefers hybrid (after a decade of full remote).
Having a thriving office has been a breath of fresh air for when I want to see people. The key is it being optional and up to employees to decide what's best for them.
I am starting to think that part of the issue is 'one size fits all' approach that we centered our society around. I genuinely hate hybrid. I would rather have either full remote or full office, because hybrid messes with my routine and sleep pattern.
Unfortunately, employees choosing their preferred mode means more headaches for employers ( they want to track it somehow ).
I know what I prefer. I know what is possible. As humans, we do not agree on what is the 'right' way. And in US, employers used to hold all the cards ( which is part of the reason they are praying for a recession ).
The problem is that that doesn't really work. The people working in the office don't get the benefit of in person social connection if others aren't coming in, too. Either you have people coming (win for the office people, loss for the remote) or you have people working from home (the reverse). Leaving it up to everyone to work it out on their own doesn't really solve the problem.
That being said, working it out "per team" is generally reasonable. I've had hybrid stints, and I always coordinated with my team so that we all came in on the same day. Then we could do the social thing together at the office.
There is always a fraction of people who will chose to go to the office. That's enough to have social connection. These persons do not have to be on your own team.
The last 10 years or so I have been working on teams splitted in 3 to 5 different countries, and now in 3 different continents. In that case you are effectively working remotely even when your are working in a company's office.
Can't say I agree with that. Seeing "anyone" is not the same as seeing the people you're close to (work closely with, know well). It certainly doesn't bring me the same mental benefit.
It is not the same but having teams split in different timezones has other benefits and it is often desirable to work that way. One example: on teams handling operationnal roles having teammates in different timezones being primary responders avoid being on call outside of your office hours.
From what I've heard, the key differentiator is the plan/concept, whatever you wanna call it, that went into the hybrid setup. If it's just an office where everyone can come in whenver, you will face all the - almost cliché - problems: people being stuck in virtual meetings while being in the office, only 20% of your team being in the office on every given day, etc. etc
So if you have a manager that really manages your in-office experience, hybrid is seen as preferred by my peers.
Having a thriving office has been a breath of fresh air for when I want to see people. The key is it being optional and up to employees to decide what's best for them.