At this point, we have two competing pieces of information: (1) Some workers say they are just as effective at home (2) Some higher ups believe employees are

At this point, we have two competing pieces of information: (1) Some workers say they are just as effective at home (2) Some higher ups believe employees are noticeably more productive in the office Comparing the veracity of these two opposing statement, both from groups that have some claim to authority on the matter is hard. I, as an external observer, can only really judge with the aid of some secondary information. Both claims seem, on the surface, plausible. However, if we are indeed missing some larger point, there must some data to backup claim (2). That data does not seem to be made public, as reported quarterly profits during the pandemic were up. Not releasing that information is up to Apple, they don't need to let outsiders know how the sausage is made. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/AAPL/apple/gross-profit https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/AAPL/apple/gross-p... More importantly, if a non-trivial # of employees believe (1), regardless of its veracity, then Apple isn't correctly communicating their reasons for (2) internally. So at this point, we, as outside observers, don't know the reasons, many of the employees don't seem to know/believe the reasons, but we should take Apple Management's word for it? You may trust the word of one group of the other, I'm not here to question that. Such value judgements are how we navigate life. However, expecting me to believe Apple's Management on face value, when their formerly happy-to-come-in employees don't is a tough sell.