100%. When the alternate to remote is a return to hodge hodge seating in an open floor plan - or worse, hoteling in an open floor plan.. its all theatre.

Seating staff level engineers next to the desktop support row, or C-suite admin row, and other loud areas with no virtuous "informal learning" overlap was the norm at my last company.

You also get to sit near idiots who want to debate politics all day or talk about the latest TV shows and sportsball. A day in the office without top of the line noise cancelling headphones is essentially a negative productivity day.

CEOs want to treat many of us like cattle into pens.