The return-to-office push
Observation
Large employers cite collaboration and culture when mandating office returns. Several of the same employers hold long commercial real estate obligations and have announced headcount reductions in the same period.
Narrative
Remote work failed. Offices are essential for productivity and culture.
Alternative View
Mandates may serve multiple goals at once: real estate utilisation, soft attrition, and managerial visibility, alongside genuine collaboration concerns.
Unknowns
What does within-firm productivity data actually show? How do attrition patterns differ post-mandate? Who benefits from each framing?
Question
If productivity data supported the mandate, would it be shared?
Why It Matters
Millions of working arrangements are being renegotiated on top of an unexamined claim.