Why aren't more companies remote-first? Because a lot of the people starting companies or in management positions tend to be older and are more accustomed to "The old ways".
Humans are creatures of habit. We like the status quo to stay the same if at all possible. If you've spent 30 years in an office with no remote work, you probably want to keep doing that (you're used to it afterall). You also probably want your subordinates to do the same. After all you've been used to having your boss "right there", your coworkers "right there", your subordinates "right there"... for years
Beyond that, which I honestly think is a large portion of "why". There is also logistical complexity on numerous levels, for numerous types of companies. Such as:
* Laws & Regulations - Especially in heavily regulated spaces like finance & health
* Enterprise Customers - They often are old school and want to see your offices and hordes of people working to justify their multi-million dollar purchases.
* All the pay/insurance/tax/reimbursement stuff mentioned a dozen times in this thread.
* Employees - As noted here in this comment thread, some people LIKE working in an office
* VC/Funding - It's more common now, but supposedly it's still harder to get VC money or funding from banks if the workforce is remote/distributed/virtual (take your pick of terms)
Humans are creatures of habit. We like the status quo to stay the same if at all possible. If you've spent 30 years in an office with no remote work, you probably want to keep doing that (you're used to it afterall). You also probably want your subordinates to do the same. After all you've been used to having your boss "right there", your coworkers "right there", your subordinates "right there"... for years
Beyond that, which I honestly think is a large portion of "why". There is also logistical complexity on numerous levels, for numerous types of companies. Such as:
* Laws & Regulations - Especially in heavily regulated spaces like finance & health
* Enterprise Customers - They often are old school and want to see your offices and hordes of people working to justify their multi-million dollar purchases.
* All the pay/insurance/tax/reimbursement stuff mentioned a dozen times in this thread.
* Employees - As noted here in this comment thread, some people LIKE working in an office
* VC/Funding - It's more common now, but supposedly it's still harder to get VC money or funding from banks if the workforce is remote/distributed/virtual (take your pick of terms)