[jcranmer]

Pervasiveness seems to be more a function of whatever the latest workplace fad is rather than based on underlying assessments of how well it works. I've heard upper management outright say things like they're mandating return-to-office simply because everybody else is doing it.

[WalterBright]

WFH is the fad. Work In Office and pay for performance has been around since the Dawn of Man.

[defrost]

It's only recently that more than 50% of humans even live in an urban area (the home base of offices).

Most of human history has seen the bulk of humans living in rural areas within all manner of labor exchange schemes.

"Modern Capitalism" was founded with "work from home" as a significant factor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piece_work

    Since the phrase 'piece work' first appears in writing around the year 1549, it is likely that at about this time, the master craftsmen of the guild system began to assign their apprentices work on pieces which could be performed at home, rather than within the master's workshop.

Did you not have any history classes in your early schooling?

[WalterBright]

I bet piece work was paid for the piece, i.e. results, not time in the seat.

I never wrote that all work was done in the office, sheesh. Besides, any organized labor project is going to need the labor on site. Piece work can only be done if no coordination or teamwork is needed.

> the master craftsmen of the guild system began to assign their apprentices work on pieces which could be performed at home

Sounds like speculation to me. Where are those apprentices going to get the tools? Is he just going to carry the anvil home with him? How about the forge? Even hand tools have historically been pretty costly items, up until just a few years ago.

> Did you not have any history classes in your early schooling?

Not much history is taught in public schools - not my fault. But I have a cite for you:

"Chapter 2 examines the material and religious foundations of capitalism that were laid down during the so-called Dark Ages."

  -- The Victory of Reason by Rodney Stark, pg. xiv

Capitalism is a heluva lot older than 1549.

[bandrami]

> Capitalism is a heluva lot older than 1549.

Huh? No, it's not. The first step may be learning what "capitalism" means. It's a specific economic system that developed in early modernity. It's not some "natural state of man" any more than feudalism was before it.

[WalterBright]

I provided a cite. Maybe have a look at it.

[defrost]

The opinions of Rodney Stark are neither unkown, uncontested, nor definitive.

At best they are niche and contraversial (admittedly it's the phrase "revolutionary and controversial" that most commonly appears on his book reviews).

I spoke of modern capitalism which is a well understood term, as acknowledged by bandrami.

If you wish to speculate on undocumented pre history then it's reasonable to assume that work from home predates first documentation and goes back as far in time as large works with small parts existed.

[bandrami]

I've read Stark, and he goes way out in front of the actual documents we have. The high middle ages contained elements of a market economy that eventually developed into mercantilism and thence capitalism, which is very different from your claim that capitalism is a lot older than 1549. (You also seem to be conflating mercantilism and capitalism, incidentally, but either way the result is the same.)