[mriet]

I worked as an open source developer (remote) between 2011 and 2016. At the end, my social skills were deteriorating (despite a reasonable social life and hobbies) and I was less motivated, disciplined and less productive.

I now work at a company where there are a max of 6 people to a room. I would go in every day except that I have a small child and it's easier in terms of logistics to work at home one day a week.

I am a hardcore introvert. I am not shy and have worked successfully as a manager (and hated it). If you think introvert == shy, look up the definition of introvert. I know several extroverts with significantly worse people skills than me.

Working at the office: - motivates me - makes me happier and less lonely - makes me more productive -- *in the long run* - helps me (a lot) with networking and generating new projects.

While working in open source, I ran into many developers who had been working at home for between 10 and 30+ years, and were very productive. Some people can do this. You must have a thick skin and be stubborn or otherwise single minded -- and it helps if you are not single.

However, I believe that the majority of people will initially be productive when WFHing, for the first 1-5 years, after which a steady decline in both productivity and mental health will set in.

Research has conclusively shown that your social network is directly related to both your health and happiness. The line between this and WFH is really short....