In response to the devastating destruction and upheaval from the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its Foundation are compiling examples of ways businesses are assisting, supporting, and sustaining employees and family members in the region. These operational, programmatic and logistical efforts are in addition to the significant charitable donations of food, medical supplies and financial contributions from businesses to humanitarian organizations.
Corporate Examples
Regular communication with your workforce to stay in close contact with employees remaining in Ukraine and abroad can play an important role in fostering continuity and stability during times of crisis
- Ensuring mental health services are available for both Ukraine-based employees, relatives of those who have family in Ukraine, and your general workforce who may be interfacing with impacted employees directly can help mitigate the mental and emotional stress of the conflict.
- Providing regular updates on business operations within Ukraine can keep employees abreast of dynamic company operations in response to the conflict from a political, business, and people focused perspective.
Job security is top of mind for many employees in Ukraine who are either looking to remain in Ukraine or relocate to a safe area outside the country on temporary or permanent basis. Focusing talent management efforts to reassess impacted employee roles and titles to determine who can continue to work as normal and which employee roles can be altered to preserve jobs can include such steps as:
- Determining which employees can make the shift to a virtual, remote-work setup.
- Keeping Ukrainian employees on the payroll regardless of their work status to facilitate a regular income.
- Reassigning roles to make them more compatible with available work visas in another country, when possible.
Relocation efforts to aid Ukrainian employees and, when possible, their immediate families who are seeking to evacuate from high conflict areas is a priority. Employers can provide the following services to mitigate risk and facilitate safe passage either within Ukraine or neighboring countries accepting refugees by:
- Establishing reliable communications means with employees where such communications have been disrupted.
- Facilitating safe modes of transportation once an employee has reached a neighboring country that is accepting refugees.
- Arranging for staff to meet employees that have migrated at safe locations along the Ukrainian border and assist with acclimation.
- Encouraging employees who wish to remain in Ukraine to move out of large cities and into rural areas. When possible, help employees identify safe corridors of passage to avoid high conflict areas.
- Tracking of employee whereabouts and movements after an employee has left Ukraine to help ensure continued employment and security while they are living abroad.
Housing support has become more critical as the number of internally displaced people and refugees continues to increase. Employers could consider facilitating internal, employee to employee chat platforms to allow those with available housing to post vacancies.
- A voluntary colleague hosting program may serve as part of a broader, comprehensive contingency plan to better support displaced employees and their families in getting to safety during times of crisis.
- Such a program may provide voluntary accommodation on an interim basis until displaced employees and their families arrange for their recovery; are able to return home; or are redeployed to new roles across the region.
- Parameters around expectations for hosts may be useful including establishing a suggested hosting period of between 1-4 weeks.
Access to funding is critical to ensure your workforce can obtain necessities such as food, toiletries, medication, shelter, and transportation, among other basic needs. With large scale numbers of refugees and internally displaced people, cash withdrawals from local banks can prove challenging. To alleviate financial difficulties, employers could consider providing:
- Pre-paid debit cards that can help alleviate situations where cash withdrawals are difficult to obtain.
- Employee bonus payments can help provide employees with the financial means to address unexpected hardships.
- Expedited pay, which will allow impacted employees have early access to funding and enable them to plan ahead.
General relief efforts can be arranged internally. Employers could consider utilizing internal tech platforms to allow their workforce to contribute and coordinate their own relief efforts. Efforts can include:
- Allowing employees to organize internally and setup collections for necessities such as clothes and personal hygiene items. These items can later be handed off to humanitarian relief efforts on the Ukrainian border.
- Providing medical services to Ukrainian employees and their immediate family once they have crossed the Ukrainian border.
