"Every senior executive of the several dozen with whom I’ve discussed this issue believes that operating from home is simply less productive. Mind you they haven't provided me with any actual evidence for that belief, and I'm not going to stoop to talking to their employees, nor am I going to wonder why employees might not care so much about productivity gains when the profits from those gains are mainly going to people like me."
One the other hand, US birth rates improved during Covid, particularly among college educated women, while birth rates in China are falling far beneath replacement rate. So while each employer may prefer their worker in office, on a national level there may be a silver lining to WFH.