NatWest said just over a third of its 59,300 UK full-time employees would continue to work remotely. Some 55% of its staff would adopt a hybrid model of working between the office and home.

NatWest chief executive, Alison Rose, said leaders would hold conversations with staff over the summer about which category they fall into.

"I would say that we've busted the myth that jobs need to be done in a certain way," she previously told staff. "We have learnt new ways of working and it's important we carry those learnings forward."

I can understand someone working in central London being pleased not to have an hour's commute every day, but I do wonder if those people who see this as a workplace panacea aren't being a little naive. If you can work from home, so can someone else in another country. In the 90's we saw the almost complete export of call centres to countries with much lower wage costs - I reckon with banking, finance, a lot of retail, all going online, it will be a lot easier for the likes of Alison Rose & Nat West to do the same.