Some companies made investments in properties, or signed multiyear leases, before the pandemic happened. I know of a couple that are itching to get people back to work in-person.
Trust me, I do not care either. I'm just explaining the motivation some smaller employers have for getting employees back to the office, and hopefully those employees can see through it and advocate for their wellbeing.
That was unfortunate, but incidental. Larger companies certainly can do the cost-benefit analysis that cancels out those losses if they plan on being around in 10 years.
There's plenty of people who actually do want to work from an office. it's not like offices will be empty if you simply let people work from home. especially if you stop forcing people to work in a fishbowl and make the office an actual productive place where people can get focused work done.