WFH actually affords a company to obtain more productivity and cost savings on physical spaces. If anything the lines between home and work gets blurred and I work over 8 hours/day.
How many of us can say the same thing? I believe the majority. I can say for a fact that WFH made me more productive, not less productive. Those who are blaming WFH for what's going on in the company are woefully misguided.
My understanding is that the RTO requests are tax-driven. Cities give tax breaks to companies to build facilities, with the understanding that the facilities will bring bodies into the city and support the local economy. Without people in the buildings, tax breaks and favorable treatment by the cities go away. Like anything else with the Geoff Martha administration, if it isn't related to the bottom line and what can be reported to the street, it's not worth a damn. In this case, RTO is tied to the bottom line. Just another case of Geoff doing an about-face because he's too stupid to understand ALL the components of the company. He still has use of the jet, though.
I don’t mind coming into an office and seeing people once in a while for specific things. But forced RTO a minimum number of days a week is unnecessary. Anyways, I just accepted a 100% remote job with a company who, from the beginning, has advocated for their employees who can work remotely to keep doing so. :) So, there are better companies out there.
Upper management making the decision to make people come back to the office because they hate their kids and home.