I’ve also not taken work because of this, so it cuts both ways.

I guess in many companies that’s the reasons why policies were intentionally made less flexible lately. They lower remote work because they want a certain percentage of employees to leave. During COVID many tech companies had a huge peak in demand and hired a ton of people. Now, as demand lowered, they’re looking for cheap ways to get rid of the staff again.

IMHO it’s not a smart tactic because you tend to lose the best employees first as they easily find a better opportunity elsewhere.

I literally quit my last job because of shitty changes to policies that took away our freedoms.

I asked management why, and always got a different answer, so they were never telling anyone the true reason.