IBM Mandating Return to Office by Today

I find this very surprising. I used to work for IBM about 8 or so years ago, in the middle of Europe (it was in the Ginny-era). You could say a lot of bad things about them, except for one thing: home office (if HO is your thing).

HO wasn't only an option, but IBM was actively encouraging, even embracing it very much, and they had quite decent infrastructure supporting it. And while I was in Europe, I worked closely with folks in Rochester and Toronto, and know that they had similar policies too. By the time the pandemic came, I have long left them, but I always imagined that moving to full HO was a breeze for them, considering that they were doing that already for many years. What happened?

Seems like IBM is trying to force workers back into the office if they live within 50 miles of one and hinting that others might also need to relocate.

There are some long threads on r/IBM as well discussing it and it seems like no one is really sure what the motivation is since Covid earnings were considered quite good.