Re: but it's not always as easy as that to implement.
According to the disclaimer/warning (above) when setting up an Exchange account, yes.
When I noticed this functionality last year in the AWS WorkMail console it rang alarm bells, as I did not recall seeing the disclaimer at the time. After a bit of surfing I found (and lost) a youtube video by someone you unexpectedly confirmed using their phone, that "wipe" really did mean the full device.
Apple also confirmed it was expected behaviour and referenced - https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/deployment/dep158966b23/1/web/1.0#dep10d49a1cc