Why are companies mandating five days back to office?

Tech giant Grab has told its employees to return to the office five days a week starting in December. This follows other MNCs such as Amazon. Reasons for returning to the office include the need for better collaboration and to drive productivity. But do these reasons stand up to scrutiny?
Steven Chia and Crispina Robert discuss with guests Karen Teo, country manager for recruitment and talent firm Quess Singapore, and Dr Issac Lim, founder of Anthro Insights and lecturer at NUS Business School.
Here’s an excerpt of the conversation:
Crispina Robert, host:
We (are so focused) on just the few (companies) who are thinking, okay, you know what? For the amount of money that we’re spending on you guys, we need you to be accountable in the office at (specific) times. But for the vast majority, they still have flexibility? 
Issac Lim, founder, Anthro Insights:
For the vast majority, it’s probably worked for them. And there are many good reasons why people do that, right? One, is that your access to talent is definitely a lot wider if you have a more flexible arrangement. 
With flexibility, we also open up the fields for people with disabilities and a different, non-traditional workforce – people who can work from home, but not necessarily come in the regular hours.
Steven Chia, host:
I’m also guessing that the reaction to coming back into the office full time seems to be coming from a larger, younger population; many of them graduated during COVID, they may not have spent much time physically working in the office five days week. For the older folks, you were used to it, that’s what you used to do. So coming back isn’t that big a deal?
Karen Teo, country manager, Quess Singapore:
I always believe that people don’t just leave an organisation because of (the) RTO (policy). There are other reasons, like the boss. You’ve heard of this saying, right? “I don’t leave the company, I leave the boss.”
So if there’s actually some camaraderie within the organisation, the teamwork, social interaction with the people, that makes it harder for them to leave.
During COVID, when I hired people, there’s no connection between them and my team members. So (work and relationships) become transactional. I don’t really have that kind of connection with them. 
 
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