For the first time since COVID, more than half of Fortune 100 companies have mandated workers fully return to work as hybrid options wither

Because the other CEOs who don't understand how people can work remotely are doing it and they want to fit in by forcing their employees to do the same.

Proof that remote work makes for better and more effective employees means nothing, they just want control. Same reason they force people to follow specific office hours and mandate overtime that just drags out work that could be done in four days if they have flexible schedules.

City governments have been pushing hard because they're worried about their tax base and economies - not so much for the office space itself (though that's in danger), but the ancillary businesses like coffee shops, lunch places, and car parks. It's a shitty reason, as they could take the opportunity to rearchitect office space into livable housing and solve the problem that way - but they don't want to.

Stealth layoffs