They do not. They see working from home as a great way to game the work system. Mouse wiggler keeps your computer from going to sleep and you can play keystrokes through a keyboard port to make it look like you are typing. Then you can go to your other computer and watch porn. You can call people on your cell phone while you are at the store or maybe the golf course. You can have a three martini lunch and nobody can smell it on your breath. Hell, you could pretend to work at 2 or 3 different jobs and all you would have to do is produce something meaningful every once in a while.
I know hundreds people in my industry who never report to an office and they do well-most of my peers make than doctors (including specialists) and it’s not for nothing, we have specialised skills and work hard
There are days I don’t have much going on and might go to the store, take kids to the park, sit in the pool or take nap. The next day might start at 6 am and require travel and hours upon hours of difficult meetings until late night and repeat again and again
“you could pretend to work at 2 or 3 different jobs and all you would have to do is produce something meaningful every once in a while.”
You could—if middle management are blithering idiots.
That tells us more about management than it does about workers.
I'm an engineer, and work harder now on the 3 days a week I'm in my home office (physically different building than my house) than I ever did before 2019. Constant stream of text/Teams messages, emails, meeting requests, all of which prevent ACTUAL engineering work.