While workers worldwide have faced an unprecedented
Since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a “special military operation” in Eastern Ukraine on February 24, nearly 13 million people have been displaced, many leaving their families, their homes and any semblance of normalcy that remained. Within minutes of this declaration, the Russian invasion of Ukraine was under way, with airstrikes reported in the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro.
“There is a life before the war and life during the war,” says a Ukrainian worker who's currently based in Lviv and spoke to EBN on the basis of anonymity via email. “We all are tired of COVID-19 and other bad things that have happened in the world in the last few years, but it's nothing compared to war in your country. The war is a genocide against [the] Ukrainian Nation."
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This employee is one of three Ukrainian staffers at Kiwi for Gmail, a Google-suite management software company based in New York City. He is still living in Lviv, a city in western Ukraine 43 miles from the border of Poland; while the city has seen relatively little contact with the war, everyone is on high alert.
“Air alarms and very bad news are our daily routine now,” he says. “I remember that morning when my mother woke me up with the words, ‘War, Russia declared us a war.’ I opened the news and it was full of explosions in big cities, and the closest were 40 miles from my home.”
Eric Shashoua, CEO of Kiwi for Gmail, says his days have changed as he worries about his colleagues and the danger they face each day. Half of his full-time staff is faced with war in their home country, and another employee who was based in Moscow fled to Georgia with his family as an economic refugee (and despite being adamantly against the war, has faced discrimination while looking for a place to stay). Shashoua, who is an American, described his morning routine as waking up, checking on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and having coffee.
“Especially for the first several weeks, that was my routine,” says Shashoua. “I was in shock that Russia would actually think to invade. My heart was in my feet. Imagine tanks rolling around New York City — that’s their experience. I was horrified.”
Shashoua says he sometimes loses touch with the three Ukrainian employees. He and his team are doing what they can to support them, while acknowledging that work may be the last thing on their minds.
“My primary concern is for their safety and well-being,” Shashoua says. “I told them that their salary is secure, and we’ve been incredibly lenient if they’re unable to work. Their job is the last thing they need to worry about, and we will do whatever we can to try to help them.”
Staying safe is becoming increasingly challenging for those living in a war zone. The constant stress and uncertainty can quickly change your perception of reality, says the Lviv-based employee.
“I can tell you one thing we all in Ukraine understand: the only important thing is your life and your family,” he says. “My life can be finished in one minute by a rocket that flew out from Russia and it will be the end.”
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There have been at least 7,061 civilian casualties since the start of the invasion, according to Matilda Bogner, the Head of the United Nations Human Rights Mission in Ukraine. The UN also reported that more than 12.8 million people have been displaced in Ukraine, including those who have fled the country.
Another Kiwi employee who was based in the southwestern Ukrainian city of Odesa has already fled with his wife and three children. Shashoua has been keeping in contact with him, recalling how he first went to Hungary, and eventually found a friend to stay with in Portugal.
Shashoua’s third Ukrainian employee lives in a small town near Ukraine’s second largest city of Kharkiv. Ukrainian forces recently recaptured four villages from Russian troops north and northeast of the city. The employee told Shashoua that the closest fighting has been 50 miles from him.
“We lose touch with him for weeks at a time, and it’s getting hard for him and his family to find food,” says Shashoua. “I kind of wish he would flee.”
Shashoua notes that this employee hasn’t been able to do much work, and the company has supplemented with other workers. However, the Lviv-based employee says work has been a necessary distraction, as well as an act of national service.
“Work helps distract me from bad news to continue a normal life,” he says. “We are all trying to earn money even in this hard period in our life, pay taxes, and transfer money to the army. The army works in front and saves us while we should work in the back and support our country and economy.”
It’s an effort that will be incredibly valuable as Ukraine’s economy becomes increasingly more destabilized. The World Bank estimates that Ukraine's economy will shrink by 45% this year, and half of Ukrainians have lost their jobs, according to the World Economic Forum. Global food shortages are expected, as crops have remained unplanted or unharvested, and trade infrastructure has been damaged. Inflation is also expected to soar as high as 20% this year, according to Ukraine’s central bank.
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While Kiwi workers will still feel the impact of war-driven inflation, their paychecks are wired as U.S. dollars (which can then be converted to local currency), meaning their pay will not be dependent on the decreasing value of the Ukrainian Hryvnia.
“I am grateful that I, along with other Western employers, are able to shelter these employees somewhat, economically, from what’s going on,” says Shashoua. “We can pay them through a stable currency, so it insulates them from the inflation they would experience.”
Shashoua believes it is his responsibility to ensure that every employee at Kiwi is at least financially secure and has a job to return to. If that means temporarily hiring other people to shore up the workload, Shashoua says that’s more than reasonable. And he encourages other Western employers to follow suit.
”Employers have an enormous responsibility to try and take care of their people and protect them,” he says.
Shashoua admits that he does fear for the well-being of his Ukrainian workers, but the Lviv-based employee is confident Ukraine will survive.
“I have no fear, as fear is something that Russia is trying to sow among us,” he says. “I am proud of my country. Everything will be fine with my personal and professional life. I have a lot of plans, and I am sure that I will be able to carry out everything as planned.”
