Standing with Ukraine: What organizations can do to support the people in this war

The current war in Ukraine and the tragic situation for its people has been a sobering reality check for many of us. We experience that the way we live together, the principles we build our lives on, cannot be taken for granted. It is hard to imagine that just two hours from here, people are being bombed and have to fight because they want to live by these very same principles, in freedom and in peace.?

We at Workpath, as much as we as a European community, are about shared values. Our commonalities and connections, our collaboration and appreciation for each other, are not based on nationality, but on liberal, democratic and basic human values. I am convinced that everyone who pursues these for themselves and their family deserves our support and protection - no matter where, but particularly on European soil.?

From the first days of the war we’ve been trying to understand how we can help and how to quickly set things in motion. While there is an overwhelming amount of sources on how anyone can help as an individual, I’d like to share what we have learned that you can do as an organization to support the people in Ukraine: ?

• Donations: There is a long list of international organizations that provide humanitarian aid to the people in Ukraine right now. As a company, we donate to "Aktionsbündnis Katastrophenhilfe", an alliance of humanitarian organizations, including the Red Cross. Our employees have the option to contribute from their gross salary and Workpath then matches their donation.?
• Donating relief supplies: There are a lot of local organizations collecting and shipping relief supplies to Ukraine by now (e.g. medical goods and baby food is needed a lot) and your office can be a great hub to collect goods from employees and ship them from there. Based on our own experience, we recommend calling the local partners first, as sometimes they struggle to manage the capacities of donations they receive.?
• Giving your employees a day off to work as volunteers: Increasingly, there are local organizations (like this one in Munich) who seek helpers to pack trucks or to support refugees. As employers we can support this by providing our colleagues with the time needed and the option to take a day off to help.
• Connecting with Ukrainians and showing you stand with them: I have to admit, I felt like trying to help is more important than sharing where we stand publicly. It seemed too obvious. However, we talked with a Ukrainian customer this week and conversations like this remind me: even if it is just your public commitment to Ukraine and a message against the Russian regime, this gets seen and it means something to the people affected.
• Talking to your Russian colleagues: Even though we talk about Russia as the aggressor, we need to be clear that this is a war of Putin’s regime and not of the Russian people. This differentiation is important and we should let them know that we know. We have our own small Russian community at Workpath and there are millions of Russians who are against this war, who feel ashamed and who are as shocked as anyone else.?
• Hiring: Right now there are more than 2 million Ukrainian refugees who fled the country. While I am impressed by some of our colleagues who offered to host refugees at their homes, as an employer we want to contribute as well. Therefore we connected with with organizations like VanHack,?ImagineUkraine?and?Localyze?that help refugees and professionals from Ukraine who seek jobs remotely or in other European countries.?

Even though it sometimes seems difficult these days, my team and I try to stay optimistic and focus on the things we can do. I am sure this will not just strengthen our awareness that what we have in Europe is not for granted, but also our unity to protect what we stand for as a European community - together with the people of Ukraine. ?

?Johannes