The only way I can make the math make sense is if the people angling for RTO are staked entirely in the capital-assets table, and ignoring operational expenses.

The only way I can make the math make sense is if the people angling for RTO are staked entirely in the capital-assets table, and ignoring operational expenses. Even if you discard features like "employees like it", "it earns you points in competitive recruitment markets", or "some types of employee perform better remote" data, offering 100% remote inherently widens the recruitment net. You can hire two engineers in Dubuque for the cost of one in SF, and you're less likely to get pinned to "there's only one guy on the local market with the skills we need, and he's asking $$$$."