I'm a manager and I have two all-star people on my team that are not willing to come back to the office in January. I have had some discussions with some other managers and directors who also have reports that do not want to come back to the office, or not even located in the headquarters area anymore and prefer working from home.
I want my reports to feel as comfortable as possible as long as they contribute and do great work. If upper management is proposing a two or three day mandatory office visits a week, what is going to happen to my team members and others in the company who aren't interested in working in the office? I personally don't think two/three days in the office will do much, and overall my team seems happy to be working from home.
It seems like there needs to be some new ideas around this whole thing. I would hate to see Freddie show a forceful hand and push out a bunch of great people, including the younger workforce (which already is lacking at Freddie) who prefer flexibility, while further demoralizing other employees with a show of top down strength of old ideas that aren't suitable anymore in the modern economy.