> I suppose the higher pay reflects the employer's expectation of a higher return on productivity, creativity, from that employee Not necessarily higher produc

> I suppose the higher pay reflects the employer's expectation of a higher return on productivity, creativity, from that employee Not necessarily higher productivity, but different. An employee that is present at the physical office when most people don't, is providing a peculiar (and rare) kind of value besides their actual productivity in their role, _if_ the company values something about their physical offices. There may be many reasons why the company would, but exploring that is a different topic.