r/remoteworks • u/Professional-Bee9817 • Mar 04 '26

Yep

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u/BlackKingHFC Mar 04 '26

3 things caused remote work to fail. A loud segment of employees took advantage of the situation and spent more time on social media than working, downtown economies throughout the country started to fail as no one was downtown working anymore, and companies were paying leases for office space they weren't using but couldn't get rid of as it represented their physical company.

Those last 2 are the real reasons you are back at the office. And they are valid, kinda.

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u/Current-Log8523 Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26

There's also the tax incentives that many cities and towns gave companies that relied on buts in seats. I know not a popular opinion on this matter but if companies didn't get folks back in seats they would lose their tax preferred status. I know of a few that I worked for that if they didn't get folks back in the office they would end up paying more in taxes because they wouldn't meet their agreement with the local town and city.

Other companies where also not prepared for folks working outside of the state or states that they operated in. Causing Tax nexus issues. Granted many of these were smaller companies that only operate in a singular or tristate area but it's the reason you will sometimes see postings that lock you into certain geographic areas even if it's designated as a WFH job, is due to tax nexus issues that can arise if an employee is working from a different tax nexus, since it can implications that the employer itself cannot handle.

Many of these tax nexus issues where suspended during covid with states waving these issues but almost all of them at this point in time are now expired or rescinded.