It also kind of dictates that the employee dedicates square footage in his or her home for workspace, but also has to deal with commute, attire, transit schedules etc.

Yes, I can just elect to do 5 days/wk in office, but it seems like at least one of those days will be a pointless commute to interact with no one, plus all the other negative things about commuting.

Being in Seattle I know a _lot_ of people who have made lifestyle decisions about where to live and what kind of house to live in based on the assumption that WFH (specifically at Amazon) would persist.

It's going to be somewhat disruptive and seems like another de facto layoff.

However with this kind of layoff you lose people who have the most alternatives first.