"...showing up on-site to regularly inspect"

There has been quite a lot of material written about the behaviour instigated by the knowledge of being observed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect

It seems to me to be a bit more complicated matter than just slackers suddenly jumping into attention.

"Most people can't work remotely, even if they say they want to."

Actual data would be nice to back that up. Cognitive bias is a constant hindrance when trying to figure out things like these based just on anecdotes and personal experience.