I think this is more of a hiring or leadership problem. The information that is exchanged is not sensitive to the format of the conversation... specs, bugs, de

I think this is more of a hiring or leadership problem. The information that is exchanged is not sensitive to the format of the conversation... specs, bugs, design issues can all be addressed in any type of communication. To think otherwise is in my opinion adding unnecessary layers to engineering, and this is typical for large organizations because they want a lot more than just completing deliverable work. They don't just want your expertise, they want your loyalty... work, eat, laugh, breathe with the team, and become a part of the company like it's an extended family. Then they do 10K layoffs. So I don't think it's unreasonable to question why management and leaders want everyone back in the office. The underlying incentive is something like employee loyalty, except this doesn't go both ways.