I don't think it's globally far less effective. I think it's particularly less effective when you need constant communication, say being next to your teammates throughout the day, or when the people are really unmotivated and they won't work unless they're being constantly physically monitored.
As someone who's in a startup and is very motivated, with coworkers who are experts in their area and there's little overlap in skillset, so that everyone knows what they need to do and do it well, without having to constantly synchronize with what each other is doing, I strongly doubt someone would be more effective than me simply because they're going to an office. Specially if they have a long commute and a family.
As someone who's in a startup and is very motivated, with coworkers who are experts in their area and there's little overlap in skillset, so that everyone knows what they need to do and do it well, without having to constantly synchronize with what each other is doing, I strongly doubt someone would be more effective than me simply because they're going to an office. Specially if they have a long commute and a family.