[johbjo]

The observation that many office jobs are meaningless must have been made many times before the pandemic, and I/we can't be the only ones to have made it.

Maybe the purpose of many workplaces, from the perspective of some managers and workers, is not only related to the output of the company. I have come to the belief that part of the purpose of "work" for some people is "live role playing" careers, and thus they want to fill the roles for the other co-players.

From this perspective, it's not surprising that people want to return to the office.