So the problem that you pointed out isn't optimization as a concept, it's dumb people.
It's a beancounting optimisers wet dream.
They were already friendly with remote work before, i for instance have worked fully remote for over 10 years already.
Before the pandemic they had space problem in their San Francisco office, if you were not in the office at least 3 times per week you were at risk of loosing your desk space.
During pandemic when everyone was forced to go full remote and performance was not impacted they just moved to a much smaller office space and kept everyone remote.