[coldcode]

Although I retired last year, that year I worked at home during the pandemic was just fine productivity-wise, but I did miss the social interaction, the ability to hear discussions around me (sometimes too loud of course) where I learned things I would otherwise not know about projects, and I had lunch with my team and other teams almost every day, talking about all sorts of things and sometimes even work. That's what I missed. Slack is fine for communication (I probably read/wrote hundreds of messages every day) but you miss the human interaction.

If I had a family, probably would not have missed the work folks as much, but spending time talking with other programmers every day in casual conversation is a learning experience you won't get just slacking people as part of work. Junior engineers can learn by doing, but being able to have impromptu whiteboard sessions to explain things in detail helps them move forward faster. Sure you could use Zoom, but it becomes just formal meetings instead of a 5 min quick lesson.