[Volundr]

> If you hate the office that badly, you’re probably working at the wrong place.

That's quite a departure from "WFH isn't one-size-fits-all". If working from home isn't for everyone, why do you assume the office is?

> And yeah, a truly creative collaborative working environment can’t be replicated over video call.

Strongly disagree. I don't think you even real-time communication, much less video is required to have strong collaboration. There are certainly times when it helps, but even in those times I've never felt held back by jumping on a quick call vs an in-person meeting, and we almost never do video.

[solidasparagus]

I really don't understand how people feel like they can communicate as well without being able to read body language.

[Volundr]

I hear you, but at least for me and my team we haven't found it to be an issue. FWIW we're all IT. Programmers, sysadmins etc.

As a manager, there are certainly conversations where I find in-person to be beneficial, and for those video calls are a poor substitute. Reviews, raise negotiations, disciplinary conversations, etc, but these are all discussions where an accurate emotional read is critical for both sides.

On the other hand for discussing algorithms, software architecture, network layouts, server specifications, etc, these can certainly be topics with lots of disagreement, requiring lots of conversation, but if your relying on emotional nuance for or other non-verbal cues for communication I think you've got an unacknowledged problem, where people are communicating clearly enough with their words.