This is a remarkable amount of effort and money to spend trying to demonstrate the “truth” of something which everyone involved was surely aware was bullshit from start to finish.

See the Return to Office mandates and basically anything and everything corporate-mandated. CEOs have shown they don't actually give a flying fuck what research tells them, they'll go with their "gut instinct" every time when their gut instinct always boils down to "Fuck you, I've got mine, nevermind that I got it by stealing it from you."

They'll spend millions chasing thousands, they always do. The rich are only successful because of the wealth they can endlessly fall back on, the rest of us are completely fucked when we make the endless mistakes they make. It's part of why they think they're infallible, since their wealth insulates them from real consequences.