Reply to post:

"I'm not convinced that job performance of remote vs office is anything to do with personal preference."

I disagree.

I work as a software developer, a job which is nominally pretty portable these days. I have a good working setup at home as well, with a dedicated room for an office. But I also have a set of tendencies and circumstances that make working from home (at least, full time) less preferable. I tend to get distracted easily, especially when tired (*cough*, I'm on El Reg). Having my own machine right next to my work one is a bit too much of a temptation sometimes. If you argue that this is a problem I have to solve, then you're right. I choose to solve it by moving to a place where I can more easily focus and am less likely to be distracted.

My other half also works from home and has a bad habit of not respecting that I'm working. I can get a number of phone calls asking for chores to be done (even though she's on the sofa downstairs), or a few random visits just because she's bored, all of which kill any focus or flow I might have had. Some days are better than others.

I tend to be one of the problem-solvers at work, including little things like "my keyboard won't work". Trying to diagnose something like that over phone or video call can really be an exercise in patience, but in person can be much more quickly diagnosed. Similarly with helping a team member with code, it is much easier just to slide over to the next desk and run your eye over the problem.

There are a whole host of benefits for working from home that other people have described, and I don't disagree with the vast majority of them. But for me, I find that I am normally more productive in the office and would prefer to work here most of the time. I completely believe it's down to personal preference and circumstance.

(Anon, because I'm sure that neither my employer nor my SO would enjoy reading some of what I've written here)