This assumes that RTO is a rational and economic decision. From everything I've seen, at least 80% of the time it's almost entirely about emotion, and mostly c

This assumes that RTO is a rational and economic decision. From everything I've seen, at least 80% of the time it's almost entirely about emotion, and mostly control. Managers who never learned how to actually manage in any way besides "if your butt's in the seat, I guess you're working, otherwise, you're slacking off and stealing from the company!" are desperate to get people back where they can act like they manage them. Managers who (overlapping with the first) have bought fully into the narrative that the manager/subordinate relationship is an adversarial one, and believe that every employee is constantly going to be trying to find every way they can to avoid working, cannot imagine employees being more productive at home without draconian surveillance. People at all levels who worked in offices all their lives, sacrificing so much that they could have had if remote work was an option, see others enjoying remote work now (even some just starting their careers!), and are resentful. "If I had to do it, you have to do it!" Or they just see it and genuinely don't believe it's possible to work properly anywhere but an office. People are not fully rational creatures. If you look at the decisions managers and execs make and say, "But it's so clear that this is worse for the company; why would they do that?", or, worse, "They must know something I don't know, and this is actually better" (and I've seen many people express both sentiments about the RTO push), you're making the mistake of believing that everything they do is motivated by cold hard logic and numbers.