My anecdotal experience is that whenever I'm in the office, 90% of the people there do nothing but chit-chat with each other, half the time with screens turned off. And no, it's not one of those mystical magical watercooler chats that solve every single problem in the company, it's just idle chitchat about their weekend or whatever.

My direct peer whom I work with closely every day takes hours to respond when in the office, while at home it takes him a few minutes at most. PRs take 10x as long to get done when he's at the office (even on the rare occasion I'm in the office, it actually takes longer cause all he wants to do is just chat), the PRs themselves are of a lower quality and less useful etc...

> Also, inevitably remote/async work flips the priority such that employee would be much more responsive to interrupts/errands of their own life than to focus their full attention on the employer's concerns.

I mean, good? I prioritize a lot of things, arguably MOST things over work. If I had the option to do nothing yet still earn money you bet I'd do it, but since we don't live in a post-scarcity Utopia I will in the meantime give minimal effort and not let my job dictate how I live my life.