I'd venture to say a lot of companies based in 2nd/3rd tier locations simply did the math of hiring freelancers vs opening an office in those 1st tier locations

I'd venture to say a lot of companies based in 2nd/3rd tier locations simply did the math of hiring freelancers vs opening an office in those 1st tier locations and it was cheaper just to pay the remote workers. It's almost as if remote work is good for the worker bees and good for the business, but bad for the useless middle managers who's only job is to make sure people are working performatively.