I am Jonathan, a Ugandan by nationality living in Cape Town, South Africa with my awesome wife. I am an Innovation lead and data analyst and my work entails research, business intelligence, data analysis, process automation among other things.

Due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown, companies have had to change their ways of working. My wife and I are blessed to be working for companies that can let us work from home. I know so many people out there that don’t have this privilege.  Working from home has some challenges for example I feel like I have more work to do and spend more time on the screen working for longer hours in comparison to the office, where you have set work hours. Communication has also been different because there is an increased need for more detailed emails and calls when discussing tasks and goals with the team.

I have also had to intentionally take digital screen breaks to give my eyes a break. The day is full of screens, from the time I wake up and look at my mobile phone, then PC screens to the end of the day as I watch TV. That’s a lot of screen time.

Navigating the work environment at home has also been interesting. My wife and I have had to find a way to share the working space. When we both have meetings, one person has to move to another room to take a call as well as having to find a healthy balance when sharing information.

On the other hand, the effects of staying indoors most of the time also kick in. I end up getting cabin illness due to the lack of sufficient sunshine and inability to move which affects my thought process. There is a need to take intentional breaks to exercise. Luckily, I can access a 10m yard where I can jog for about 30 mins which works out to about 3km. I also try to do a few HIIT exercises to get fit.

One of the biggest COVID-19 induced fears is the impact on the economy. What employment will look like, how people are already being laid off and how some are taking reduced salaries. This has a ripple effect across the communities and all the direct and indirect dependants. All we can do is hope and pray that a permanent solution is found as soon as possible while we try to navigate these unprecedented times as best as we can.