The fact that they have to resort to checking logs to determine who is coming into the office should be enough proof of how pointless working from the office is.
If you literally can’t tell without a literal in/out log, you can’t claim performance or communication as reasons for requiring it. You’re literally saying “we can only tell if we check the logs.”
Depends who "they" are. Middle managers can tell who comes in and who is performing, but most of them don't care or want to work remotely too. Executives who can approve a program like this are the ones pushing return to office.