Every FAANG simultaneously decided they needed to layoff roughly the same percentage of workers, and even more through return to office, with no justification or demonstrated impact on profits, productivity etc, they share large investors, and oh, yes, they all got busted for colluding in the past? It’s all pretty much out there in the open.

Collusion is the default human condition. It is absence of collusion that has to be proven.

Or are we assuming governments around the world are effectively preventing collusion of multi-national corporations? Now that would require incredible proof.

What if it’s not a decision made in a smoky back room behind closed doors but rather monkey-see-monkey-do/“hey we can get away with it”?

Definitely is weird to say the least. Even small companies often have HUGE investment firms behind them of course.

This is exactly what you would have said the last time there was proven collusion. It takes a while for the proof to come out, but as the sibling comment says: it's awfully convenient that all the RTO policies and layoff ratios are in alignment.