I have decades worth of remote work experience. I don't think the problem is social isolation, as others point out that's another issue, you can experience isolation (alienation) regardless of your work situation.
But if you want to be more than a gear on a team, the main decision making and insight is often strictly between local workers, regardless of what gets said in meetings it's the water cooler or after work beers. If all the decision makers are in one place and you're not there, you're missing a lot of context. A few key in-person meetings as required goes a long way to mitigate this, but for organizations that see cost savings as a main benefit to remote workers this may be difficult to arrange.
I totally agree with you. I like all-remote teams. I’m wary of teams that are part remote and part collocated, especially when the leaders are part of Team Collocated and I’m not.
But if you want to be more than a gear on a team, the main decision making and insight is often strictly between local workers, regardless of what gets said in meetings it's the water cooler or after work beers. If all the decision makers are in one place and you're not there, you're missing a lot of context. A few key in-person meetings as required goes a long way to mitigate this, but for organizations that see cost savings as a main benefit to remote workers this may be difficult to arrange.