Spot on. Go to work, jump on that Teams/Zoom meeting. And go out to lunch, so the local businesses don't fail. That includes not just restaurants, but parking lots as well (the public transport here is broken and getting worse). Somehow, 'green thinking' which was popular pre-COVID is no longer talked out - everyone should drive and come to the downtown office and support local business. How about suburb businesses? How about those business that cannot survive in a model are allowed to die a new business model (perhaps not food) pops up?

> You want me back in the office because it’s essential to communication and collaboration? Fine, ban Teams meetings with no external participants. Otherwise the office is just where we go to work remotely in the same place.

I think I'd agree with you, but I'd put it this way: "Fine, co-locate teams at the same office with their customers. No more distributed teams, anywhere, for any reason."

The only reasonable exception to that rule is first-line support team in the opposite time zone, that's it.

Also ban, hoteling/hot desking. You know what also f-cks up in person collaboration? Not knowing where your coworkers are sitting.

Most RTO is executives trying to have their cake and eat it too. The decisions are directly contradicted by other decisions they've made and ideas they advocate for.