Booming Ukrainian IT sector finds secure haven in Poland amid battle

By Alicja Ptak

Since Russia’s invasion, hundreds of IT staff have been relocated from Ukraine to Poland, permitting their companies to proceed functioning – and certainly thriving – whereas additionally contributing to the battle effort.

The primary three days after the battle broke out have been a blur for Olga Kuraksa, a 42-year-old senior govt at Ciklum, one of many greatest IT corporations in Ukraine.

She had arrived within the northern Polish metropolis of Gdańsk only a few days earlier. And although she had agreed when her firm prompt a short lived relocation, she by no means believed Russia would really invade her house nation. In actual fact, she had a return ticket booked for mid-March.

“I feel that I spent the primary 72 hours at work,” says Kuraksa, nation supervisor at Ciklum (pictured above on the agency’s Gdańsk workplace). Along with a colleague, she established a hotline for workers who wished to relocate and the telephone began ringing continuous.

Ciklum, similar to many different Ukrainian IT corporations, supplied relocation schemes each throughout the nation and overseas, largely to Poland. Some 2,000 of its 3,200 staff accepted the supply within the early days of the battle, together with 250 who moved to Poland.

“We put [them] on buses; we funded the petrol in the event that they drove their very own automobile; we paid for prepare tickets and aircraft tickets. Nonetheless, they wanted to go to a secure place,” says Patricia Taylor, Ciklum’s chief human sources officer. The corporate additionally coated the prices of resort rooms and a per diem to assist with any further prices of relocation.

“It was the precise factor to do from a humanitarian perspective” but in addition “a sensible factor to do from a enterprise perspective”, provides Taylor.

And such efforts by Ciklum and several other dozen different Ukrainian IT corporations paid off. In line with the IT Ukraine Affiliation, trade capability was maintained at 96%. Three of the largest Ukrainian IT corporations instructed Notes from Poland that their groups remained almost as efficient as earlier than the battle, partly due to the relocation efforts.

Which means the booming IT sector, a spine of the Ukraine’s economic system, might keep progress, albeit slower, even after Russia’s invasion in late February. Within the first quarter of 2022, together with over a month of the battle, the sector’s export revenue reached a file $2 billion.

Earlier than the battle, the sector employed 285,000 IT professionals and contributed 23.5 billion hryvnia (€750 million) to the state finances in 2021 alone.

How do you’re employed when the bombs are falling?

One other main Ukrainian IT firm, Infopulse, moved 400 of its staff and 600 of their relations to Poland. However not all people managed to depart.

Initially, Infopulse deliberate to maneuver 500-700 staff, as much as 35% of its workers and d when the battle broke out on 24 February, Infopulse staff with households headed for the border. However barely a dozen male staff crossed over earlier than Ukraine banned all Ukrainian males between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the nation.

Nonetheless, in search of to guard its staff, the corporate nonetheless managed to relocate 1,600 staff and their households to western Ukraine, which has been least affected by the battle and is taken into account comparatively secure.

To have the ability to work seamlessly, Infopulse and different corporations carried out measures to permit their groups to stay secure and productive even in case of falling bombs, in addition to energy and web outages. They booked residences for relocated staff, refurbished bomb shelters, put in further energy mills and secured Starlink, a satellite tv for pc web service operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

“If you wish to assist us, work with us”

Ivan Korzhov, the top of Infopulse in Western Ukraine, says that for the primary three weeks of the battle he labored almost continuous, serving to with inner relocations. A way of mission sustained his efforts, nonetheless. He was doing this not solely to assist his colleagues. He additionally feels his work contributes to the victory of his nation by way of the cash it gives.

“There’s a widespread phrase in Ukraine proper now, that we in Ukraine don’t need peace, we would like victory,” stated Korzhov. “We wish to work, we wish to win. And we perceive that every one that we’re doing, our taxes, our initiatives, and our volunteering is all for one trigger principally, for us to get our land again. For us to free our folks in occupied territory.”

In line with IT Ukraine Affiliation, the sector contributes to the state’s coffers on common 222 million hryvnia (€7.15 million) in taxes each month.

Some staff who’ve relocated overseas additionally attempt to pay taxes in Ukraine for so long as it’s legally doable – which in Poland’s case is as much as six months. Others donate an enormous chunk of their salaries to causes which can be essential to them.

Whereas they’re grateful for the worldwide assist offered by different governments, organisations, people and even their very own shoppers, the message they offer is: “If you wish to assist us, work with us”.

“From the standpoint of Ukrainian trade, it’s not an issue that these folks left,” says Łukasz Olechnowicz, the top of Infopulse in Poland. “The larger drawback…is that some clients don’t wish to signal contracts if the providers are delivered from Ukraine or if the corporate is positioned in Ukraine.”

Because the battle broke out, some clients grew to become anxious about enterprise continuity; others requested the businesses they have been working with to relocate a few of their operations out of the battle zone attributable to safety causes.

“For a few of our shoppers, safety points are essential they usually can’t afford to present entry to their methods when there’s a danger that Russian troopers would take over a laptop computer on which an worker is working,” says Olechnowicz.

Whereas huge corporations akin to Ciklum and Infopulse maintained almost all of their clients, as they have been capable of switch a number of the operations overseas, smaller companies, collectively paying probably the most in taxes, misplaced a few of their clientele. Within the case of the smallest corporations, these hiring as much as 200 folks, contract retention was 88%, in comparison with 99% for the largest companies.

What does this imply for Poland?

In complete, 49 corporations have relocated a minimum of a few of their workers to Poland and 21 corporations plan to open an workplace there, making Poland the primary vacation spot for relocations from the Ukrainian IT sector.

Earlier than the battle, N-iX, one other main participant within the IT sector in Ukraine, had solely 5 specialists in Poland. However by 1 June there have been 120 of them. And they’re eager on hiring, each in Ukraine and in Poland.

“We deliberate to develop our Polish workplace lengthy earlier than the battle, but it surely has positively accelerated this initiative,” says Oleksandr Shatnyy, the top of HR at N-iX. “You wish to go to the place that resembles house as a lot as doable, and Poland is the closest to that. We don’t really feel like emigrants in Poland… we really feel like neighbours and buddies.”

After almost 4 months in Poland, Ciklum’s Olga Kuraksa can share that sentiment. She says she feels supported and welcome in Gdańsk, a metropolis the place Ukrainian flags are seen on many corners.

On her left wrist, she wears a bracelet constructed from blue-yellow and white-red strings, symbolising Ukrainian-Polish friendship. Having taken care of her colleagues, she will now begin settling into her new life in Gdańsk.

She says that whereas she thinks that there are quite a lot of alternatives to develop in Ukraine, as a mom of two, she would solely really feel secure to return if Russia capitulated and Ukraine was a part of the EU.

“Mutually helpful” 

Each the Ukrainian and the Polish IT sectors voice a willingness to work collectively. In line with Wiesław Paluszyński, the president of the Polish Info Processing Society (PTI), the reconstruction of Ukraine after the battle will probably be a terrific alternative for Polish corporations. “Ukraine is a big market,” he says.

Konstantin Vasyuk, govt director at IT Ukraine Affiliation, proposes strengthening collaboration straight away. He thinks that Ukraine and Poland ought to work collectively on making a Central European IT hub, which might serve corporations from everywhere in the world.

“We all know that we at the moment are nearer than ever earlier than and we will develop this closeness to be mutually helpful for each nations, for each nations,” he stated. “We shouldn’t wait till the battle is over. We will do it proper now.”

Important picture credit score: Ukraine IT Affiliation