> What we need is for people to be happy
that is irrelevant to company management - in so far as that happiness has negligible effect on productivity.
However, from anecdotal evidence i've gathered (only sample size of 5-7 or so), in office has been more productive, but they (with the exception of one, who lives 5 mins from their office) all dislike RTO and would've preferred WFH; but not enough to quit over it as it's not a 5 day mandate, but a 3-4 day mandate.
The problem we have is precisely that we consider things like this "policy disagreements" even when they're happening on a massive scale and causing enormous harm to society. If we're talking about some small company where the manager decides to push a bit harder, okay. But when it comes to multibillion dollar companies shoving their profiteering mindset out on everyone, it's no longer just a matter of internal company policy. Poisoning society with a single-minded focus on money is in its way as bad as pollution, and it needs to be stopped.
> that is irrelevant to company management
That's right, that's why a lot of company management needs to be smacked down and if necessary fined and jailed. That laser focus on productivity is a cancer on society.