RTO means your top tier are leaving cause they easily can to find WFH positions. So you lose leadership, tribal knowledge and know how as well as strong relationships. In their place you promote then hire strictly locally which declines your talent pool immensely. So now that highly talented worker in the Midwest can't be hired cause they can't go into an arbitrary office.

They need many of those workers right now, they just are hoping the "right ones" quit while the "right ones" stay.

I've witnessed similar things first hand. Offering buyouts in the hope that 2% take it but in that they lost 2 of the best devs we had and we've still not recovered from the projects they were working on. That's the other thing. How many projects get left in limbo now at Amazon? Tons I bet.

Executives are the most replaceable group in every business. The actual business functions will slow. Any projects that lose their leader will be placed on a back burner and likely not done for another 12-24 months.

Any exec that thinks they can lose talent and maintain everything the same or exceed things is someone who also thought the white Sox were running their franchise just right.