If you work remotely, there’s no way for the company to distinguish itself other than the work itself. It doesn’t get to make you feel important by giving you a fancy lobby to walk through. It doesn’t get to make you feel the way you do when you’re part of the hustle and bustle of downtown, like you’re making the world turn. It doesn’t get to ply you with cakes and pizza parties to make you feel like the company is generous. It doesn’t get to do any of that. Remote work takes away that power, that ability to impress you and stroke your ego. All you’re left with is the work itself. And I think some companies know that the work itself isn’t rewarding enough. I think they know that some people will see that their work isn’t actually that cool.
Note that peeling away everything but the work probably makes the executives feel exposed too. Take away being able to walk in and seeing all the people you have power over. Take away the adoration you get when walking down the hall, the ego boost you get from delivering a speech at a podium, and the feeling of superiority from wearing a sport jacket around people who don’t wear sport jackets. Replace all that with a computer screen. Of course they want you to return to the office. They didn’t fight for their position for nothing. Certainly not for the endless Teams meetings, or for the cold realization that all their work is mostly mumbo-jumbo. They might actually start to see that all the things that gave them self-importance are in the grand scheme of things, flimsy and silly.