>I don't think a blanket return to work is what's needed, a more targeted appropriate one might be though, identify who's presence is required and pay them commensurately to be in the office. Working from home gets you less but you get the flexibility.
And how exactly do you do this? What if the person who's presence is required in the office depends on people who don't need to be in the office? What now? And how is it fair to everyone that some people can WFH but others can't?
The same is the case at my current company, and the new juniors have had zero troubles with learning. Why? Because all of that can be done remotely.
You only need to learn by watching if you are engaging in the physical world, and software itself is not physical at all, so there is never a reason to do anything in "real life" unless your software happens to be operating a robot or other physical device of some kind. There are endless wonderful cheap or free tools to enable everything that was previously in the physical world to be done remotely now, and if a company and it's employees can't use them right then it is a mix of organizational and personal failings.
Clearly there are benefits, especially for people with families,or a long commute. Hiring is also made easier.
I don't think a blanket return to work is what's needed, a more targeted appropriate one might be though, identify who's presence is required and pay them commensurately to be in the office. Working from home gets you less but you get the flexibility.