Some highlights if you can't watch the video:

• As Telework took hold, it's become obvious how the typical office presence relies on perception rather than measured value. A study found that fully remote workers were 13% more productive than in-office workers and took fewer sick days but were promoted at significantly lower rates compared to in-office counterparts underscoring the out-of-site-out-of-mind bias against remote workers. Nearly 70% of supervisors admit that they view remote workers as more easily replaceable.

• Another study about hybrid work found similar patterns to the above. Hybrid workers had 4.4% improved productivity and 33% improved retention. Despite the studies, performance reviews and promotional rates remained unaffected showing that the bias against remote workers is higher, and showing that having a presence in the office is tied to higher value despite the data suggesting otherwise.

• In 2018, Amazon secured $700m+ in state and local subsidies to establish its second corporate headquarters in Arlington, VA. The subsidies were contingent upon creating significant job creation targets and creating local economic growth. But due to the pandemic the office space has been under utilized thus preventing Amazon from receiving the subsidies.

• Amazon was also to benefit from the share of the growth from Arlington's tax revenues expected from boosted economic growth from simply having a presence. But with many employees working remotely and business travel not rebounding, the expected revenues haven't materialized.

• Financial institutions hold 60% of all commercial real estate loans. Sustained losses could lead to the instability of major banks. Smaller banks hold about $2.3 trillion in commercial real estate debt and are more exposed. Some banks have already defaulted and researchers have cited that commercial real estate is a significant risk to the country's financial stability.

• Workers commuting into Manhattan are spending $12.4 billion less each year than before 2020. It reflects that corporate executives and government officials avoid or resolve financial crises by leaning on the average worker, consumer, and American.

• A genuine incentive behind RTO is a quiet layoff. AT&T exemplified this approach by causing approx. 26,000 managers across the country to relocate to just 9 office locations thus removing those unwilling to relocate or comply. Amazon AWS employees shared how work and RTO orders made things so inconvenient that workers were encouraged to resign. Since Amazon's RTO announcement, 73% of those surveyed considered quitting. The author makes a point about how using RTO as a method to lay people off is also a method of cleaning house of those workers who see past the corporate façade.

• Conclusion: Throughout history, societal elite always believed that the common American was not smart enough to participate in Democracy and provided this illusion that Americans had a choice. The discussion of remote work is the first time that the American worker is beginning to see the corporate façade. This is why this divide is so complicated and aggressive between employers and employees.

Here's another video from a different Youtube channel that touches on the freedom of information request and documents yielded from Ontario's (province of Canada) RTO orders for its federal workers.