Since it seems that "bring employees back to the office" is the next "layoff 5-10% to appease shareholders," what are all these companies going to do that hired people all over the country and had employees leave the area when they switched to fully remote/fully flexible? Are they actually going to ask people to move?

Otherwise if you're granting exceptions for a significant portion of your employees I don't see how the required WFO (work from office) actually gets the benefits you are hoping for.