I don't want to wade into the actual effectiveness of RTO nor LLMs at boosting productivity, but if you buy into the claims made by advocates, it seems pretty obvious that the "in office boosts communication" claim is only true if your coworker (the other side of the conversation) is in office. Not everyone has the same priorities, so you'd have to mandate compliance to see the benefits.
Similarly, many people don't like learning new tools, and don't like changing their behavior. Especially if it's something they enjoy vs something good for the business. It's 2025 and people will have adamantly used vim for 25 years; some people aren't likely to change what they're comfortable with. Regardless of what is good for productivity (which vim may or may not be), developers are picky about their tools, and its hard to convince people to try new things.
I think the assumption that people will choose to boost their own productivity is questionable, especially in the face of their own comfort or enjoyment, and if "the business" must wait for them to explore and discover it on their own time, they risk forgoing profits associated with that employee's work.
Similarly, many people don't like learning new tools, and don't like changing their behavior. Especially if it's something they enjoy vs something good for the business. It's 2025 and people will have adamantly used vim for 25 years; some people aren't likely to change what they're comfortable with. Regardless of what is good for productivity (which vim may or may not be), developers are picky about their tools, and its hard to convince people to try new things.
I think the assumption that people will choose to boost their own productivity is questionable, especially in the face of their own comfort or enjoyment, and if "the business" must wait for them to explore and discover it on their own time, they risk forgoing profits associated with that employee's work.