The genie is out of the bottle. We have opened Pandora’s box. The toothpaste has been squeezed from the tube.

Whichever metaphor you prefer, home working is here to stay. The pandemic has changed many things, but perhaps none as drastically as our relationship with the office.

Cast your mind back to before lockdown began, could you conceive of a world in which we all worked from home? Maybe one or two of us would work remotely once or twice a month, but not the majority, and certainly not every day. The notion was not even discussed.

However, that is what we have done. We adapted. It was particularly difficult during the first few months. Those with children having to juggle education and work, but overall, the forced experiment has been a successful one. So successful that 43 of the top 50 employers in the UK announced they would give employees the choice of how they want to work, with the majority opting for a hybrid of home and office.

We have decided to give all experienced brokers, who would normally work from an estate agency, the option to work from home. This added flexibility allows people to make the decision of how they wish to operate.

Some will prefer to still work from the office, giving them separation from home-life and work-life. Others will enjoy the commute that comes with working from the spare bedroom. Or the garden shed.

Those who work from home will still have the support of a team, manager, and access to training. They are supported when they need advice and a team to help them, just with the added flexibility to work when and where they want to.

This decision requires a lot of trust. That trust has been earned throughout the pandemic as our brokers have shown they can deliver exceptional service for clients wherever they are. The way the team adapted to working via video conference, and embraced the challenge, is one of the things we are most proud of in the last year.

The freedom to choose is important for a lot of people, and we anticipate allowing brokers the freedom to work where they wish will improve efficiency. Before the pandemic, the idea of video calls wouldn’t have been considered with most clients. However, expectations have shifted significantly.

Now brokers are adapting, with some offering clients the option of how they would like to communicate. There will be some that will still want to meet face-to-face, but the convenience of being able to quickly jump on a video call for half an hour, not have to worry about parking and putting on respectable trousers will be appealing for many.

Home working isn’t the perfect solution for everyone. There will still be brokers who prefer operating from the traditional office, where they can discuss a difficult case, the latest raft of criteria being changed and what that means for their clients. Others will prefer an estate agency as they enjoy the camaraderie and the additional face-to-face meetings with clients.

After decades of having to work from an office, and then a year of being forced to work from home, the freedom to choose is a refreshing change.

Just Mortgages and Spicerhaart managing director John Phillips