In general, I agreed. But, of course, it depends. If employees are responsible then they should have the opportunity. They are more efficient and also it is a sign of respect from the employer towards the employee.

Of course it has to be analyzed if it is beneficial for the job-position, for example they employee requires regular human contact.

Hybrid models are effective. If needed, the employee can be office, if not, working from home. This reduced also costs, as the office only needs to offer space for, let's say, 80% of the total employees.

You don't state how frequently you work from home. It takes real discipline to work alone for a long time. There are as many (but different) distractions as in the office.

Remote work is becoming a big trend among large, fast-growing companies, especially in cities characterized by high rental market where sqm (or sqft) are expensive and simply adding floors is not a solution.

This shift can lead employees to explore new ways of working. Instead of working at your own desk or in your office, you are encouraged to perform different tasks in different spaces, including your own living room or a cafe. I personally cannot focus at home when I have to collaborate (via Skype) or do data analysis, but can use my sofa to proofread drafts and presentation decks. A coworker of mine claims to be more focused at home and he would love to have a double monitor system to be even more productive without coming to the office.
Ultimately, it’s a matter of giving employees a variety of choice and - in some instances - encouragement to work outside of the office.

Moving from pure-office work to remote work requires a tailored approach that starts with understanding an organization’s culture and vision, as well as an investigation into quantitative and qualitative data. It’s not an easy process, but it works very well to bring about an effective organizational change.

There was a lot of interest in the "open office workspace" that now seems to have died down and many people did not like it. I think remote work is great provided you have alignment with key factors such as: type of work, skill level, supervisory situation, tools, ability to connect when needed to name a few. I think there is a risk to an organization deploying a high percentage of remote workers in that they may not capture some of that collaborative, innovative problem solving. On the individual side I think it is essential that an honest assessment is made regarding personality type, temperament and work style. People who need "high touch" will likely lose energy and focus over time and become less effective. Perhaps there is a business opportunity here for one of those assessment management consultancies.

To me, work remotely from time to time is helpful to arrange other activities that you can't do if being at the office. And according to my experience, even when interrupting to do something else, at the end of the day I didn't work less, maybe I just followed a different time organization. However, as someone already mentioned, it is all about employees responsibility. You can have several but different distractions both at home or at the office.

How should we balance this type of work culture, should companies be more open to this or should they encourage centralized work culture at one place.
Be dedicated, have a protected time to work without distractions as if you were also in the office setting, so you can accomplish what is expected within the time allotted and the quality desired of. Likewise, have the necessary connectivity - Wi-Fi and back ups for power outage

Does working from remote affect the collaboration and team bonding?
I don't think so. Collaboration can be done by video conferencing. And just like any relationships, being distant can make you closer.

i agreed. An In-office culture with flexible working policies become more trendy. It's becoming increasingly common for companies to maintain a physical office space but also allow employees to occasionally work from home. As long the productivity is the same. I believe it should not be a matter whether work in a remote place or office as long u can get the job done in the given time.