The only thing Ive heard that makes any sense and isn’t just “the CEO says so”, is in-person collaboration. I will say, pretty much everyone I’ve talked to says “yes, it’s nice to have a physical meeting and collaborate in person” however… most of the people I work with besides my immediate team are in other offices, dispersed across the globe.

I’d love to see some hard data that shows the difference. I guarantee they have hard data, but wont share it because it doesn’t paint the picture they want it to. They also had hard data that showed we were vastly more productive during covid lockdowns, even when people only worked during normal hours. Until they told us to come back, then people switched to malicious compliance.