most jobs can't be done from home, and never could.
that said, "the" biggest wfh tech advancements are the telephone, the home computer, email, fax machines, and home printer/scanners, and all have been around for a generation or more, and over 100 yrs for the phone.
they didn't kill the office.
—Yet, it was coming, now it is much closer
a video call is a 0.000005% advancement over the voice call other than for tv or medicine.
— I think you are in the minority with this opinion. It was enlightening for me to watch a teacher via video teach a class to 20 1st graders (including my son) and have the class discuss topics she raised leveraging Zoom. There is not a chance that could have been accomplished via a phone-only conference call. As an adult, the ability to share content, visibly see other participants so that no one talks over one another and be able to read expressions, etc is light years ahead of a conference call (especially if a participant takes a phone only call from the car).
that said, activist investors, private equity, and tech, will be far more responsible for any long term corp travel drop off than covid.
— Absolutely agree. All covid did was force the world to try out remote working as normal vs exception for 4 months, and the world discovered it works really well.
as for the office, employers and bosses are control freaks by nature, and i think the return to the physical office will be greater than some think.
—I’m 45, I think your perspective is for the 50+ Demographic. I myself prefer in person, however for those 40 and younger that are used to (good bandwidth, wi-fi, texting, FaceTime, Facebook, match.com, and all the other technology changes that have reduced direct, in-person interaction) they see this as a natural evolution.
Plus messenger apps now make “presence” known to all bosses/managers, I would argue it gives them more control and access. All the platforms trace availability, etc, so a micro-manager can have all types of insight to effort / productivity of their employees.
and there is a social aspect in physical presence both bosses and many workers like, and won't want to give up.
— Of course the social aspect is nice, but in exchange for no commute, more time with family/friends, etc, I think the list of who wants to return back to 4-5 days in the office is shorter than you think.
that said, if your job can be done from home, it can just as easily be done from China or India or anywhere else on earth.
-Agree, your proximity to your corporate headquarters or office becomes less critical/restricting. The ramifications on this are a whole different conversation.
just sayin.