I’m sure there were sneaky C suite jerks who tried to use return to office to filter out some headcount, but I’m not sure it would actually be wise from a practical standpoint.
If office workers can get their work done at home, there almost certainly also doing extra work, 15 more minutes here, 30 more minutes there, because they’re already at home. Spending a few more minutes isn’t going to get them stuck in worse traffic. It’s not going to mean their 7 year old is home alone. They won’t be late for dinner.
The only people who lose in a remote work paradigm are the people who spent their time wandering around “working” by dropping in on their direct reports. Surprise, it turns out we don’t actually need that!