The one where they make you waste 2 hours of your day traveling in potentially dangerous/uncomfortable/inconvenient circumstances so that you can physically sit a desk and do the same thing you would do at home, all in the name of optics.
I believe the parent is most likely referring to all the costs that are externalized on to the employee related to e.g., commuting; the office-induced inefficiencies related to lack of control of one's work environment; poor communication that relies on face-face happenstance vs intentional and document oriented exchanges; and the executive-induced mal-control syndrome, such as 'if I can't see you you aren't working' kinds of things.
