“I started a job in March and was sent home within the first hour”

Jake Rainbow, 26, Shrewsbury (UK)

“I started a new job at Sheffield’s Department for Education on March 23rd. On my first day, I only spent an hour in the office before being sent home. I was introduced to one of my colleagues who got my computer for me and very quickly showed me around. I have been working from home ever since. 

They’ve been handling a lot of the training online, so lots of Skype calls with my colleagues and lots of readings. But it’s not quite the same as working from the office — when you start a new job, it’s nice to be able to meet people and ask for their help when you have a bit of a dumb question. I can still do that, but over emails, and luckily everyone has been pretty responsive. It’s been a bit of a weird start, but I am grateful that I managed to start a job when a lot of people are getting furlough or are being laid off.  

We still don’t know when we’ll be able to go back to the office — it depends on the Public Health England’s guidance — so I will work from home for the foreseeable future. It’s like a brain game — quarantining gets mentally draining after a while. But I feel very lucky to be quarantining with my partner: everyone has up and down days, but we are there to support each other through those moments. We have been dating for seven months and only recently moved in together, so at first there was a worry that the quarantine might put a strain on our relationship. You hear all these stories of people filing divorce papers during their quarantine, but it’s not been like that at all. It’s been great so far.”