Absolutely, but that’s the myth they’re pushing. Really what is going on here is, if remote work became the norm, suddenly all these companies would have huge empty offices that nobody wants to buy because everyone would be trying to offload their unnecessary office space. In the short term, a small productivity hit is nothing compared to multi-million dollar real estate instantly having its value slashed in half.
It’s incredibly short sighted decision making only if you assume the leadership actually cares about the company. When you have a golden parachute guaranteeing you escape the companies implosion unharmed, there’s no reason to think about the long term, you can just keep stacking short term profit shit up and glide away safely when it finally collapses.