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Ubisoft, Google, AirBnB and Flo Health Inc. – How companies respond and provide much-needed support for their staff in Ukraine
Farai Mugabe, Content & Research, The HR Congress
The global COVID 19 pandemic has taught us, that love and care of staff during tough times will make them stay and be more committed to the business. Employees will always remember how the business stood by them during trying times. Ubisoft2 understands this and hence it has gone out of its way to extend a golden hand to its employees who are working in war affected Ukraine.3
In a Twitter post in the past weeks, Ubisoft indicated that it was offering financial support and safety of its staff. “Over the past months, we have been closely watching the situation and taken measures to accompany them with the best possible way, by providing financial support.” The company indicated on its Twitter page.. The move was welcomed by a number of Twitter users who hailed the company for standing with its employees during the trying times. 2
Salaries for Ubisoft staff affected by war in Ukraine are being paid in advance to ensure to ensure that staff are able to make ends meet during such trying times. The company is also assisting staff by providing them with temporary accommodation in neighbouring countries.
Airbnb.org and Airbnb are announcing that Airbnb.org is offering free, short-term housing to up to 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine. Airbnb’s chief executive Brian Chesky said the company was suspending all operations in Russia and Belarus.
In a related incident, Sergio Caredda an HR professional has created an online platform entitled, HR for Ukraine. 4 This platform provides vital information on how HR professionals can help organisations and its employees during such trying times.
Other reports also indicate that Cimpress, a Nasdaq-listed corporation which had about 500 staff members before war broke out recently offered evacuation to its staff. Wix which is headquartered in Israel also offered temporary evacuation to Turkey for its Staff members.
In other reports, Tech giant, Google has advised its staff based in Ukraine to move to safe places and restrict movements. Through Matt Brittin who is Google’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) president, Google indicated that the company is closely monitoring the situation and will assist any of its employee who reports to be in danger.
Anne Roberts,5 the Chief People Officer for Flo Health Inc., indicated that they have stretched their hands to their staff in Ukraine. She indicated that as a company, they are doing the following:
- Centrally organising PCR testing, immigration paperwork and transportation
- Covering all transport costs and one month temporary accommodation for employees and their families
- Advancing payroll payments to staff and organising withdrawal facilities for anybody who cannot access cash
- Regular communication with staff
- Centralising crowdsourced peer to peer support from employees outside of the conflict countries
War broke out in Ukraine after Russia declared war on the former. This has met with widespread condemnation of the war act. The majority of the world beileives that peace should prevail rather than war. So far other global leaders have responded to the situation by imposing sanctions on Russia. Other organisations such as FIFA, PwC and KPMG have responded by their own ways.6 FIFA has banned Russian national team from participating in the upcoming World Cup in Qatar. PwC and KPMG have resolved to move out of Russia as part of their support to Ukraine.
1The pandemic has taught us to be closer to our people: Five key predictions for 2022, by Farai Mugabe, HR Congress https://hr-congress.com/2022/02/23/the-pandemic-has-taught-us-to-be-closer-to-our-people-five-key-predictions-for-2022/
2 All our thoughts are with our teams and their loved ones in Ukraine, By Ubisoft, Twitter https://twitter.com/Ubisoft/status/1497278212975570949?s=20&t=G7Mwt3DqZMRbxzbI5Gy1Ug
3One week in, Russia’s war on Ukraine has rocked the world, by John Psaropoulos, Aljazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/2/the-first-week-of-russias-war-on-ukraine-rocks-the-world
4HR for Ukraine, by Sergio Carreda – https://sergiocaredda.eu/people/helping-ukraine/
5 No-one has taught me how to be a Chief People Officer during a time of war, By Ann Roberts, Linked In
6PwC and KPMG exit Russia and Belarus in the wake of Ukraine invasion, by Michael O’Dwyer. Financial Timeshttps://www.ft.com/content/be3d59a3-d9b2-4303-946d-d61d32c2ff08
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C Jaya on 2022.03.08.
It’s always great to see companies coming uo with great initiatives lime these to aid their workforce during tying times. This is the beauty of priviledges enjoyed by international companies with operations in several regions for they can use revenue from other operations in countries not affected to effect these measures. Also, a great people policy and culture can be credited here… Every organisation should have one I suppose. I hope other organisations with the capacity, in Ukraine and globally should take a leaf from the above companies. Great insights Farai!!.