[SecurityMinded]

They want you in the office because

a) they are thinking that you are slacking off when you are working remotely. This might be true or not.

b) they are unable to quantify your work and decide if you are successful or not, which is an indication of unfit management. By forcing you to go the office, they can justify their own existence, claiming they are managing "their" people.

In my 25+ years working at US companies, I encounter the latter case with managers, who came straight out of the army, doing noting but but barking orders at their subordinates all day long. They were under the impression that corporate America was managed the same way. I personally put a couple of them in their places, in those days.

CEO of the company I worked for, straight out of college, one day, gathered up all 120 or so of us, new hires straight from the school and and gave a speech. One thing he said still sits with me: Good managers want to work with people who are smarter than themselves. Others want to work with mediocre or worse people, because they do not want their decisions to be questioned by their subordinates.

The people who want you back in the office are not good managers. They are "the others"