With the global economies on a decline, a large number of businesses are suffering financial losses, and some are even undergoing liquidation. To cut their operating expenses, most of such businesses have downsized their manpower strengths, forcing large numbers of people to seek alternate employment. Since alternate employment is also difficult to find in financially challenged economies, a large number of unemployed people have no option other than operating from their home. Thus the concept of the home office was born as a direct fallout of difficult economic times.
At the same time, some organizations who were still profitable, made further attempts to cut short their losses by reducing their manpower costs. These organizations promoted the concept of the home office among their employees. Typically, a home office is one where the person operates the office from home. Some people may be still working in an organization and working from their home, while others may be unemployed and working from their home as self-employed or as entrepreneurs.
In the case of the person working from the home while still employed with an organization, both the employee and the organization benefit since the employee is not required to travel to office and back and thus saves time and money, and the employer is able to reduce office space for which they may be paying high rents. Other savings may be in the form of reduced expenses for telephone bills, electricity, refreshments, travel, and other overheads.
The home office can produce remarkable results if properly operated. A desk and a couple of chairs, telephone, computer with internet, some stationery, etc, all in some dedicated area in the home is all that is required to get the office going. The person could try to use flexible timing to suit own convenience, as well as meet the requirements of interactions with the outside world on phone.