"They told me outright: pack up, you'll work at the head office. We're afraid of losing a valuable employee, you could be drafted into the army," Artem says. "After some hesitation, I went anyway." He admits that he was enticed by the higher salary at a permanent position – he used to earn about 1,500 euros on outsourcing, now he gets 2,500 euros. He doesn't feel like a traitor to his homeland. "I probably wouldn't have been drafted anyway – I didn't serve, didn't attend the military department. And I pay my debt to Ukraine by transferring 100 euros monthly to volunteer acquaintances," but there is still a note of justification in Artem's tone.
The war in Donbas and the crisis in the Ukrainian economy have radically changed the labor market. Mass layoffs, unpaid leave, salary cuts, and a dramatically reduced number of vacancies. Many office workers face the risk of dismissal, while the luckiest employees of international firms pack their bags, anticipating a successful career continuation far from the "smoke of the Fatherland." For example, in 2014, Ukrainian employees of the auditing company EY were transferred to work in Germany, the USA, the UK, Poland, Luxembourg, and other countries under a labor mobility program.
Companies that develop software for foreign clients have their own motives for relocating employees from Ukraine. According to Dmitry Tolmachev, senior consultant at the recruiting company WORLD STAFF, outsourcing IT companies transfer part of their Ukrainian staff to foreign offices (usually in Eastern European countries) to minimize the risk of losing clients. Many foreign clients do not trust important developments to contractors from Ukraine, seriously fearing that due to the escalation of the armed conflict, Ukrainian workers will not fulfill the order. Another motive for transferring personnel abroad is protection against possible mobilization of key employees.
Other office workers are also gripped by a desire to pack their bags. According to research by the company HeadHunter Ukraine, 83% of office workers are thinking about emigration today. "If at the beginning of 2014 the main motives for moving abroad were the desire to receive a higher salary and opportunities for self-fulfillment and career growth, today the lack of stability and confidence in the future is increasingly coming to the fore," comments Ruslana Berezovskaya, head of the expert-analytical department of HeadHunter Ukraine.
Not only promising "golden heads" are thinking about moving, but also ordinary "office plankton." "Previously, the issue of transferring to work abroad concerned mostly top management. Now employees with very different experience, both middle managers and specialists with relatively little tenure, are looking for opportunities to transfer abroad (to another office of their international company) or find employment there from scratch," states Galina Khomenko.
Wanting is not the same as leaving. According to the hh.ua study, only 29% of respondents are ready to take active steps to realize their plans today. But even this proved enough to multiply the outflow of labor resources from the country. According to the observations of Kateryna Skibska, CEO of DOPOMOGA Ukraine, since the beginning of 2014, international labor migration has been gaining momentum, and by the end of the year the flow of migrants doubled.
International migration from Ukraine is held back by difficulties that most citizens face in accumulating initial funds to obtain a visa, buy tickets, and live in a new country at first. The costs of migration are indeed significant. For example, Lera Nikolaenko, a native of Odesa, spent about $1,100 to start working as a photographer on a cruise liner, on commissions to a specialized employment agency, document processing, and other related expenses – that's nearly 7 average official salaries in Ukraine. For qualified specialists who decide to move with their families, the costs can be several times higher.
To be continued.
Mariya BABENKO,
Focus