During the COVID-19 pandemic, INHOPE's Australian hotline Cyber Report is trying to maintain business as usual, while quickly adapting to the changing work and social environment. Australia is in a state of ‘Stage 3” social restrictions. In short, they are not to leave their homes except for essential reasons, with indoor and outdoor gatherings limited to 2 people other than family.

The Cyber Report team has taken a rotating approach of working from both home and office in order to keep responding to reports and abiding by strict social distancing measures. They are using Skype and Microsoft Teams to stay in touch with one another. They meet daily via video calls and phone or message throughout the day.

As Australians make the move to online working conditions and seeking out even more online entertainment while in isolation, Cyber Report is as busy as ever. They have seen an increase of nearly 70 percent in reports made to them over the last few weeks.

It is therefore essential that they are mindful of their health and well-being, especially for their mental health as work and home lines blur. Each team member has developed a self-care plan for both home and work duties. Under COVID-19 conditions the team has found these to be an important tool to ensure that the stressors of life and work do not impact their wellbeing or morale. They are proactively engaging in a wide variety of activities such as online gaming, physical exercise, study, reading and an equal amount of binging on food and television.

With video calls becoming the new normal, they are getting used to the challenges of remote working and have identified some common video hiccups such as: the ‘have you seen my ceiling’ video, ‘I haven’t showered for 3 days’ look, ‘my headphones aren’t working’ culprit and the constant muter.

While continuing to work with their INHOPE partners, the Cyber Report team and eSafety are more than ever dedicated to improving online safety and helping to remove illegal content.