This is correct only if you also believe that a company mandating RTO is not controlling their employees because they are not bending to someone else's preferences.
Not really. Giving employees the choice to work from home or not is the opposite of controlling them. Just like giving employees the option to work only forty hours a week is not controlling them but giving them liberty. It's such a good thing it's law in many countries.
No, because the company is requiring the employee to do something. The employee refusing to return to the office is not mandating action from anyone else. The company requiring RTO is requiring a specific action. The company is asserting control over the employee.
Control in and of itself is not a bad thing, the employer/employee relationship is about exchanging money for control of ones time, but it's still control.
But refusing to return to the office because your co-worker prefers to work in a full office? That's only control in the same sense that my refusing to let someone stab me in the chest is a limitation of their freedom of movement. Sure, if you want to really twist your perspective you can get there, but it's not a useful definition.
