I remember a NYTimes article from the last year describing the culture clash between employees wanting to work remote, and management wanting to work in person. The most illustrative example was a CEO of a company in Seattle. When an employee said they appreciated WFH because the lack of commute gave them the time to take jiujitsu classes, the CEO told them they respected their interests, but they needed to consider if their future was in the UFC or working for the company.

The same CEO, when asked about why he preferred working in the office, mentioned something about being more energized by the view from his office, and something about liking the fried chicken restaurant next to the building.

It was a particularly egregious example, but I’m fairly certain this is almost entirely a matter of upper management simply personally preferring the in office lifestyle, in no small part due to the perks of upper management. But it’s hard to justify the glitzy downtown office building or corporate mega campus when they have a average occupancy rate if 20%, which seems to be the case when employees have a choice, and so they are trying to force their preference upon everyone else with made-up assurances about how much more productive everyone is in office.