> Often around these kinds of high-density cities, many (most?) people are living some sizeable distance from work anyway so I'm not that rent controls would be massively influential there either way.

Plenty of people commute from an inner suburb on one side of the city to a job on the far side of the center. If they could move to the corresponding inner suburb on the other side, and pay the same rent, that would be a substantial saving for them, at no cost to anyone else.

> I'm sure there are other possible answers to this, but quite a straightforward one to me seems that paying your employees for their commuting time would probably be right in terms of incentivising employers to allow more remote work or even set up satellite locations (possibly as a part of a desk sharing arrangement) in areas typically considered commuter belts.

That's not workable; employees can just pick a long commute and pocket the money. And what about those who aren't traditionally employed, or the small companies who'd be bankrupted by this?

Employers don't put their offices in the center of the city out of malice. They do it because it's better for productivity, and/or a better work environment that lets them attract more talented employees. That's real value that you destroy when you make it expensive for two people to swap houses and live nearer where they work; even if you force the bill onto the employer it's still a loss to society.