Nearly 40% of software engineers will only work remotely (2023)

I see this power struggle in job applications. The companies who really want to hire talent will include a remote option. Those with a more constrained vision will insist on hybrid or even full RTO. As an applicant the first thing I do is to filter out the latter.

There are local politics involved where a company might have some kind of tax break or favorable leasing to offices. There are also municipalities concerned that having less workers in downtown areas would reduce economic activity with the shops and resturants in those areas.

I have also heard that productivity for remote government jobs is not as high.

Some bigger companies actually own very extensive office properties as part of their asset portfolios.

Commercial real estate has been teetering on trigging the next Black Swan event for the past couple years. No one wants to be holding title to buildings that are vacant and not generating rent.