This was taken from another thread - sharing here because it's on point about why CEOs are pushing everyone to return to office.
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To increase their personal earnings, they need to make their corporation look better. So you're spot on with your last point -- they want to axe as many people as possible without crippling the company too much. This is a balancing act. Get rid of too many, and departments start to fail. Each department is just one piece of the puzzle, you cannot lose so many departments that your puzzle is unrecognizable. Notice how I did not say 'unsolvable', just unrecognizable.
Lastly, to increase their social exposure is to frolic with politicians as much as possible. Not necessarily become a politician, but get in their heads often, and get their "respect" so that when the CEO suggests something to a politician, it is taken as gospel. Just look at how much respect Dimon gets from Capitol Hill. Its comical. The guy is rude and evil to all his staff. Don't ask me how I know, and don't believe me if you don't want to. He's sociopathic. The politicians right now are really wanting national consumer spending to increase. They are applying pressure to the workhorses of the country to get their people spending money. Thats why your CEO wants you back in your NYC office -- so you can spend $8 for that stupid coffee, so sbux can hire more baristas and pay their shareholders a bit more, so shareholders are happy with the economy and they vote these same politicians in, who fall more in love with workhorse company CEOs.
Two reasons. Money and power.