Often on this subreddit I see posts talking returning to the office being about micro-management and control (which are definitely factors), but I think these explanations overlook potential financial motivations. Working from home does two devastating things to employee retention:
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It removes physical barriers that prevent turnover. Employees can more easily change jobs without needing to relocate their living situation (find a new home, apartment), leave their social group, or uproot their children. A remote employee can leave a company one day and start at another the next, this significantly undermines employee 'investment' into a company and it really hurts their bottom lines. Most companies benefit from tacit local oligopolies when it comes to bidding for employees, they don't want to get into a bidding war so they try and find a balance with their local 'competitors'. WFH blows those relationships out of the water, creating an open bidding war for all employees that is no longer restricted to a handful of decision makers. Worse yet, all of this turnover ends up costing “from one-half to two times the employee's annual salary — and that's a conservative estimate.”
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It removes the opportunity for cheap incentives. Office “culture” is just an inexpensive way of retaining employees. People can easily be bought with donuts and ping pong tables, executives know employees can be tricked into trading compensation for culture. Yes, buildings cost money but the price of an employee not wanting to leave their de facto social setting is well worth the cost. We are social creatures, we don't want to screw over our teammates by “abandoning” them. Social bonds are a factor in keeping employees tied to advantageous corporate relationships, they are just another series of barriers that prevents labor from recognizing their bargaining power.
Yes, your bosses are out-of-touch Boomers. Yes, they want to micro-manage you. Still, at the end of the day, money is the primary motivator for these high-level executives and they don't want to see a more 'liquid' labor market.