That's because they are actually struggling to admit deeper problems with the company culture and processes that they don't know how to solve, and so they're trying RTO to see if it fixes things.
1. Real estate holding investment increases.
2. Control.
3. Silent layoffs.
There's no reason for RTO. None. They're doing it to save money and regain control of their workforce.
The result in my experience is you have either fullish remote or you need just as many desks so very little saving from a company point of view.
Sounds like motivated reasoning.
There are valid reasons for RTO like better communication or even better control over employees. It's a question of trade-offs.
[three reasons for RTO] "There's no reason for RTO. None." [perhaps another]
It’s all about pros/cons and either sides approach.
One big one you didn’t list - it’s really hard to a manager to see what is actually happening when remote, which can let some serious problems fester.
Some (but not most!) employees may be burning out, or violating security or labor rules, or not following company policies, or whatever, and these would be trivial to detect in person, but nearly impossible to do so remotely. And almost definitely impossible to do anything about effectively while remote.
Incompetent leaders cannot manage people remotely and they generally do a poor job when in person, but it's masked by their ability to micromanage and type-A the problem away.
Yup, our commercial real was essentially fully vacant. So they rolled out these silly blended schedules (literally just electronically sign in to the office by physically being there once a week, no time req). Now they can say, hey our office space is 90% utilized on a weekly basis! I think commercial real estate investors are going to see right through this charade, but maybe I'm overestimating them.
You have several from major cities (NYC, SF, etc.) saying on the record that they are going to speak to CEO's and push for RTO so that downtowns, local businesses, and neighborhoods can go back to "normal."
Not everybody works or can work in an office. Not everybody can work in tech. Cities are symbiotic, they offer employment to both knowledge workers and non-knowledge workers.
Sorry but you can't just write off the needs of that 50% of the population that aren't techcels. Yes, you will come back to cities, yes, you will re-create thriving downtowns, yes, you will do your bit.
Service sector workers will not tolerate being turned into gigbots and stuffed into ghost kitchens so the PMC elite can pretend they don't exist.
Perhaps this will make things go to how they should be, which means that you work locally because that's where the demand for your services is.
Not just income or payroll taxes, but also regular traffic simulating the local bars, cafes, gas stations & oil changers, dry cleaning, late night pizza, you name it. If these folks can't make their nut then they can't pay rent, and end up moving away or going out of business. Then the problem snowballs.
And then there are the other sources of cash, i.e. speeding tickets, parking fines, and jaywalking citations.
Arguably this is the 'invisible hand of the market' doing its thing, but it's hard to run a municipality if your year-by-year tax base could change dramatically.
I've even heard of companies reversing the RTO mandate after the desired number of employees have left. Or just not actually enforcing it and soft-pedaling the whole thing.
It doesn't need to fix things. It just needs to appear they're "doing something."