5 ways your company can support Ukrainian business

We all know that the lives of many people changed within these past months. I think that world community has never been so united as it is now. Governments, political leaders, people from different countries dedicated themselves to find possible ways to help Ukrainian people and country in its hard times.

In March, Forbes Business Development Council during its quarterly member meeting couldn’t stand away, and Ukrainian crisis was one of the main topics. Of course, many of us do donations and participate in different volunteer events related to humanitarian help. I’ve been involved in many initiatives within this month myself, that’s why I decided to write an article listing 5 ways we as business leaders can help Ukrainian businesses overcome a difficult time.

There is no little help, and I am sure each of you could find the best way to get involved and not to stay apart.

•  Acting as a buffer

Since 24th of February I received many requests from Ukrainian companies, they asked if we can insure their clients and provide with relevant professionals in case their team will be blocked to continue working on the project. The important point here is that our team would maintain work just during the time when the Ukrainian team would have no capacity to do this. And we will hand over as soon as the team is ready to restart. Every company in every industry can do the same.

•  Outsource non-risky pieces of work, which have no strict deadlines

Ukraine is a country with thousands of talents in IT sphere and not only. You will be surprised, but in order to keep doing their work, many IT professionals continue working from basements and bomb shelters. If your company has some non-urgent work which could be outsourced – that’s the best time to hire a freelancer based in Ukraine, or the one who had to immigrate. As well, you can use services of Ukrainian companies, such as HR services, for example. It is important to keep the balance, outsourcing only the piece you do not have a strict deadline for. This way, your business would be safe from potential risks of late completion.

•  Hire those who were forced to immigrate

Hire immigrants and pay according to the local market. This initiative becomes more and more popular in many companies. And then, having hired a Ukrainian guy instead of donating to fundations – you can personalize your donations, helping a particular family or person. Donating to funds sometimes makes people scaring, as not always we can see published reports of what have been done so far. Helping a concrete family can also motivate your team, and you can get people united in your company. Getting connected helping their new Ukrainian team members will bring candor, cohesion and improve team work.

•  Buy a gift from Ukrainian businesses

  

While our life is going on and all our hearts are with Ukrainian nation, we still have birthdays, holidays and buy corporate presents for our employees. A really lovely initiative to pay 40 euro or more in order to get a present from Ukrainian companies. While most likely you would receive a “small thing” in its physical sense, in “moral” sense this gift would be priceless. That will also show your company’s  position  to your employees and to the world in general.

•  Pay for a “suspended service”

The final point of this article is something I haven’t seen in use already, but seems to me like a very good idea. While we all know what a “suspended coffee” is (when a customer pays in advance for a person who cannot afford a cup of coffee) , I though that it might make sense to do a “suspended service”. Businesses having relocated their staff to friendly countries always need a consulting, lawyers, accountant services together with small benefits they can provide their employees with, like free lunch once a week or gym membership. I know currently there are institutions which provide free services to those who came from Ukraine, but the case is that people from that region are characterized not only as very brave people. From what I have seen, people from Ukraine will go and ask for help to donation center in case of an extreme necessity. For most of the people from Eastern Europe, it would be morally much easier to use a “suspended service”.

I really hope reading this article will inspire our readers to   Leaders from all over the world have already done a lot, private companies do not stay apart. Getting your employees involved will not only help Ukrainians, it will also lead to positive changes,  bringing feeling of cooperation and team spirit.