And people not wanting others to indirectly force them to subsidize their employers by devoting unpaid portions of their limited living space, utility bills and personal equipment to their work is also a "critical fight". Remote work inherently blurs the line between "company property" and "personal property" in ways that can impose heavy burdens on employees. Confidentiality and privacy requirements might require employees to allow spyware laden devices on their personal home networks. It might require them to create secure, isolated parts of their house that lock out other family members. It might require them to allow surveillance devices into their homes. Even if your employer buys you a secure safe or locking cabinet to keep confidential materials in, you still have to devote some of your limited floor space to having that item in your space, and you become liable for ensuring that item is secured in ways that you don't have to worry about when confidential materials are stored at a central office. Everything in life is a trade off and remote work is no different in that respect.
That sounds like a "them" problem. The cost of gas and the time I don't have because of commuting is material. I used to lose 2-3 hours of every. Single. Day. To commuting. All because the places where I can find jobs were either too expensive for me to afford to live in or, get this, I didn't want to uproot my family every single time I got a new job.
The cost of my utilities? Listen, I don't know know much electricity costs where you are, but the cost or running an extra computer is pennies a day. The cost of internet is set for me. We might talk about the increased cost of heating and cooling, but I was never one of those people who turned their system off when gone because that doesn't make literally any sense with my utility's time based pricing. It's literally cheaper to let it run as it is than than do that.
As for space and confidential items. I'm not sure ahat to say. I don't have thieves coming in and out of my house and I have a password good enough to defend the casual nosy child or relative. I have an office now because I have a house, but I have worked remotely in smaller spaces and it was never any problem. At least not compared to commuting 1 hour being, although I have commuted up to 2 hours on bad traffic days which were not particularly rare occurrences. And this is just have it is in all the cities I have lived. Perhaps not all cities, but the two metropolitan areas I have lived within and in the suburbs of. Living within the city didn't even guarantee me a reasonable commute.
If the trade off is a company getting a corner or a room I wasn't using anyway plus a few dollars of electricity subsidy and I get several hundred dollars in my time measure by my pay rate not commuting plus a couple dollar in not spending it on gas, I am happy to trade that. I'm also capable of putting my computer away and safely like literally anything else I own.
I also don't worry about the isolation that people mention (although not you here) because I have a vibrant social life. As someone who was never the typical demographic of the field, I have neve depending on socializing with my coworkers in office for social fulfillment. I still somehow maintain the correct level of social comraderie via digital means. Remote work doesn't mean not interacting with your coworkers at all.
Why are the problems of people who don't own large houses with spare rooms they can afford to dedicate to their company for free, or living arrangements otherwise conducive to working remotely a "them" problem, but your failure to live within walking distance of your jobs not a "you" problem? Perhaps the truth here is that your experience isn't a universal experience, and just because remote working works out exceptionally well for you doesn't mean that applies universally. Maybe people who want to work in offices legitimately find that to be a better way to work.
