Knowledge Work, Industrial Work, and Location

As part of reading Turn The Ship Around, I watched a video with David Marquet and he shared a brilliant insight that I found timely - my interpretation:

During the Industrial Age, companies hire for employee capabilities from the neck down. In the Information Age, companies hire for employee capabilities from the neck up.

The last two years of sudden remote work for all companies large and small demonstrate that knowledge companies can succeed without a co-located work force.

Yet, as the world situation improves, companies are taking different approaches now: some embracing staying remote, some going “hybrid”, others mandating a full return to office.

Is working in an office an artifact of the Industrial Age carried forward into the Information Age? In an Information Age, where we spend so much effort evaluating employee capabilities from the neck up, why do we require them to be in the office (“neck down”) when they work?

I managed in this manner before sudden remote work.