Sorry it won't happen. An office packed with humans is all about stroking the CEOs ego. Its just not the same seeing your servants on a screen vs packed together doing the boss's bidding.
It's all about choice. Employees should be able to work in the environment that is best for their well-being. Happier employees tends to result in increased productivity.
It's also about productivity. If the employee functions significantly worse in a remote position, then extending that to them is going to be often a poor decision.
I feel like I'm struggling with this now: I have fought for a long time to get my team to be fully remote. After a year of partial WFH, now we're doing it full time. However, several people on my team seem completely incapable of self-regulation unless someone is making them show up. They're up at 3am working, but clearly only getting done >5% of what they'd otherwise do. A few others are getting done at least 120% more. Seems like different strokes for different folks is the name of the game, and some people for whatever reason just aren't in a place in their lives where they are responsible enough to handle the greater freedom of remote work.
But closing the office pads the CEO's pocketbook! So some will choose to close offices but others will keep it open. It will probably be divided between companies whose CEO is motivated primarily by money or by motivated by power.
Yes this is true. Employers have so much leverage in this labor market, and nobody ever got promoted in a large corporation for promoting workers' rights.
The only solution seems to be:
1. Universal Basic Income - ie. giving people the freedom to say no to sh*tty jobs rather than being forced to take the least bad offer
2. Make a law that gives employees the right to work remotely if their job can reasonably be done remotely