If the employees of these companies want a remote life after the experience of this past year, they'll leave the company. If the companies are experiencing enough loss they may reconsider their remote stance. I think it's unlikely though. More likely than not some employees will leave and the company will hire new employees that don't want to work remote.
I don’t believe that. Everyone else is cargo cutting FAANG. If they go back to no remote then everyone else will follow and if you want remote work it will be as hard as it’s historically been to get it, ie 1:10 ratio (making the particular ratio up) for available remote jobs to remote seekers.
It’s the same as “if you don’t like it here and don’t mind not having a roof over your head, you’re free to quit and go work somewhere else with better conditions”. It’s not as dramatic in SE because we’re in demand but it’s still not trivial to do everywhere. And it’s even worse for less in demand jobs.
