This is not defeat. It’s a strategic retreat on their part.
It’s embrace, extend, extinguish. Get workers used to going to the office one or two times a week whilst making it seem like they conceded, then slowly return to the legacy status quo.
Edit: lol why the downvotes? Do people really believe “the CEOs” have been “defeated”?
Got the same feeling. "Conceding thst HYBRID work is here to stay" - how is this a win? RTO started with "come in a few days a week", this is the narrative that was being pushed all this time.
100%. The C suite is so useless, they could easily be replaced by AI. But they want to see warm bodies in their buildings they wasted too much money on so they can feel useful, while threatening actual employees that they could be replaced with AI, which they can’t in a lot of roles. So they create these manipulation cycles to try and get their way, rather having to learn, adapt, and actually lead.