The New Home Office

by Warren Grant

We sure have seen a lot of home offices of journalists, medical professionals, politicians, pundits, athletes, and entertainers this year. We’ll gradually see fewer and fewer as these public figures return to the safety of actual television studios. But, what won’t decrease across the country is the number of home offices, a room that has become as essential in 2020 as a kitchen or master suite.

History tells us the home office dates back millennia. A seamstress in medieval England worked out of her home. Monet worked at his estate and painted 'The Water Lily Pond' in Giverny. This story is being researched and written from a home office.

Today, we relish the home office as a sanctuary where we can be safe and still participate in our profession, whether we own our own business or are working remotely from the company headquarters.

Facilitated by the rise of iPads, smartphones, and the emergence of remote office communication tools like Skype, Zoom, and Facetime, there are more home offices than ever. It will be interesting to see the numbers from the 2020 U.S. Census, but according to the censuses from 2000 and 2010, people who worked at least one day at home per week increased by over 4 million, a 35% increase.

And, it is estimated that approximately 35% of the federal workforce will work from home within the next year.

The good news that comes with a home office is the flexibility it affords, allowing a family to relocate, live a better life, and work from home.

That’s just what is happening at Harbor Club, a sparkling lakefront golf community on 20,000-acre Lake Oconee located just an hour east of Atlanta.

“Just last week we welcomed new homeowners from Atlanta because the wife’s boss told her she could work from home,” describes Kathy Phillips, the community’s director of sales and marketing. “The couple is in their 50s and was looking for a place that had national-class recreational amenities plus the shopping and medical infrastructure that could help turn their work home into a retirement home when the time comes.”

Most homebuilders have embraced the home office trend, offering an extra bedroom, flexible rooms, or even nooks as office space.

So, we will undoubtedly see a lot fewer home offices on television as things return to normal, but the home office itself is thriving and not going anywhere soon.