Having people at least looking like they're hard at work must be highly gratifying to managers, because managers (as a whole) do a lot of things that make their employees unhappy, and have no measurable effect, or even a negative on productivity.

I've come to believe that a lot of what managers, from those immediately overseeing workers, to executive directors, do is pleasurable to them individually, but really has no business reason. That is, it's all about personal power and making their subordinates do work they don't want to do.

If my belief is true, managers will of course be in favor of a return-to-office even if there's no rational reason for that to happen.