There is no shortage of hyperbole in the debate about whether companies should demand a full return to office work.

According to Citadel¡¯s Ken Griffin, the hedge fund owes its record-breaking $16 billion haul last year to its . But such sound bites ignore all the benefits that remote work offers to employers, employees and the economy more broadly.

Naysayers dismiss employees¡¯ preference for remote work as a manifestation of entitlement or ¡°quiet quitting¡± (doing the bare minimum to remain employed). But that snap judgment is far too crude. A by Harvard University economist Raj Chetty¡¯s Opportunity Insights lab estimates that there are around 2.6 million people in the United States who should be working, but are not. At a time when many employers cannot fill vacancies, offering greater flexibility both increases the applicant pool and contributes to higher retention rates, easing the pressure on hiring.