The question is whether talented people are willing to give away their time for free (commute) to an employer when other employers are available who'll not ask for bonus free time in addition to properly paid time. I'd guess no.
Giving away time “for free” is one side of it. But giving away your “space” for free is a downside of WFH in my opinion. Most folks will need a larger home with higher energy bills and taxes to accommodate WFH successfully. There’s no compensation for that.
How much space does one need to use a laptop? I would argue that working from home is one of the single biggest advantages people with good time management could possibly have. The additional time gained could be spent towards solving the problems you described. After all, you're no longer bound to that apartment anymore. You can make a plan and move to a lower cost of living area. You can leverage the circumstance to your advantage. I agree with OP in the sense that talent is made with practice. Those hundreds of hours spent in your daily commute to the office, plus all of the other distractions, could be spent learning new skills or solving personal problems. "Talented" people go to the office, solve their problems in 50% of the time or less, and pretend to be working the rest of the time. At home, they invest that time on improving themselves in a myriad of ways.
Or we can waste it. There are plenty of folks who do that no matter what circumstance they are in. But those are not the talented folk OP was referring to.
Circumastances vary. Some people want to get away from home due to spouse, kids, pets, or other distractions. Other folks dont have any of those problems and can work much better from home. It just all depends.
The additional amount of money spent on energy is inconsecuential. Charging my laptop and flushing the toilet costs a few bucks a month. Taxes? You could overcomplicate those I suppose. I file my taxes in the same way I did in the past. Sure I may be leaving some money on the table. But it is inconsequential compared to the salary/bonuses one could receive if one leverages the WFH situation as I described above. I save almost $1200 a year on gas by working from home. I dont really care about optimizing taxes for a few hundred bucks. Its not worth my time.
People hate to hear this but the most talented younger people want to work in office at least hybrid because you learn more and get more done. Yes, at the expense of commute time. I understand families change this dynamic
